Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling and
punctuation remains unchanged.

Italics are represented thus _italic_, and superscripts thus y^{en}.




                       “JAPAN AS IT WAS AND IS”

                        A HANDBOOK OF OLD JAPAN

                                  II


                       _Uniform with this Work_


  A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN. By ERNEST W. CLEMENT. With two maps and
  seventy-two illustrations from photographs. _Sixth edition._ Price,
                             $1.40 _net_.

                          A. C. MCCLURG & CO.

                               _Chicago_


[Illustration: PROCESSION OF FEUDAL LORDS

  From _Official History of Japan_]




  HILDRETH’S

  “JAPAN AS IT WAS AND IS”

  A HANDBOOK OF OLD JAPAN


  EDITED, WITH SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES, BY
  ERNEST W. CLEMENT
  AUTHOR OF “A HANDBOOK OF MODERN JAPAN,” ETC.


  INTRODUCTION BY
  WM. ELLIOT GRIFFIS

  _With One Hundred Illustrations and Maps_

  VOLUME II

  [Illustration]

  CHICAGO
  A. C. McCLURG & CO.
  1906


  COPYRIGHT
  A. C. McCLURG & CO.
  1906


  Published September 29, 1906


  THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.




CONTENTS

VOLUME II


  CHAPTER XXXII

        PAGE

  Post-Houses—Imperial Messengers—Inns—Houses—Their
  Furniture and Interior Arrangements—Bathing and Sweating
  House—Gardens—Refreshment Houses—What they Provide—Tea               1

  CHAPTER XXXIII

  Number of People on the Road—Princely Retinues—Pilgrims to
  Ise—Junrei Pilgrims—Naked Devotees—Religious Beggars—Begging
  Order of Nuns—Yamabushi, or Mountain Priests—Buddhist
  Beggars—Singular Bell-Chiming—Hucksters
  and Peddlers—Courtesans                                             15

  CHAPTER XXXIV

  Departure from Nagasaki—Train of the Dutch—The Day’s
  Journey—Treatment of the Dutch—Respect shown them in
  the Island of Shimo—Care with which they are watched—Inns
  at which they lodge—Their Reception and Treatment
  there—Politeness of the Japanese—Lucky and Unlucky
  Days—Seimei, the Astrologer                                         31

  CHAPTER XXXV

  From Nagasaki to Kokura—Shimonoseki—Water Journey to
  Ōsaka—Description of that City—Its Castle—Interview
  with the Governors—From Ōsaka to Miyako—Jodo and its
  Castle—Fushimi—Entrance into Miyako—Visit to the Chief
  Justice and the Governors—Description of Miyako—Palace
  of the Dairi—Castle—Manufactures and Trade—Authority
  of the Chief Justice—Police—Crimes                                  45

  CHAPTER XXXVI

  Lake Ōtsu—Mount Hiei[zan]—Japanese Legends—A Japanese
  Patent Medicine—Kwannon—Miya—Arai—Policy of the
  Emperors—Kakegawa—A Town on Fire—Suruga—Kunō—Passage
  of a Rapid River—Fuji-no-yama, or Mount Fuji—Crossing
  the Peninsula of Izu—Second Searching Place—Purgatory
  Lake—Odawara—Coast of the Bay of Yedo—A
  Live Saint—Kanagawa—Shinagawa—Yedo—Imperial
  Castles and Palace                                                  67

  CHAPTER XXXVII

  Personages to be visited—Visit to the Emperor—First Audience—Second
  Audience—Visit to the Houses of the Councillors—Visits
  to the Governors of Yedo and the Temple Lords—Visit
  to the Houses of the Governors of Nagasaki—Audience of
  Leave—Return—Visits to Temples in the Vicinity of Miyako—A. D.
                                                       1691-1692      85

  CHAPTER XXXVIII

  Further Decline of the Dutch Trade—Degradation of the
  Japanese Coins—The Dutch threaten to withdraw from Japan—Restrictions
  on the Chinese Trade—Probable Cause of the
  Policy adopted by the Japanese—Drain of the Precious Metals—New
  Basis upon which Future Trade must be arranged                     109

  CHAPTER XXXIX

  Thunberg’s Visit to Japan—Searches and
  Examinations—Smuggling—Interpreters—Deshima—Imports and
  Exports—Unicorn’s Horn and Ginseng—Soy—The Dutch at Deshima—Japanese
  Mistresses—Japanese Women—Studying the
  Language—Botanizing—Clocks—New Year’s Day—Trampling
  on Images—Departure for Yedo—Journey through
  the Island of Shimo—Japanese Houses and Furniture—Manufacture
  of Paper—Practice of Bathing—Shimonoseki—Voyage
  to Ōsaka—Children—From Ōsaka to Miyako—Agriculture—Animals—A. D.
                                                      1775-1776      114

  CHAPTER XL

  Japanese Merchants—Journey from Miyako to Yedo—Botany of
  the Mountains—Rainy Weather—Coverings for the Head and
  Feet—Yedo—Astronomers and Physicians—Acupuncture—Moxa
  [_Mogusa_]—Other Japanese Remedies—Method of
  wearing the Hair—Visits to the Emperor and his Chief Officers—Japanese
  Dress—Books and Maps—Succession of Emperors—Departure
  from Yedo—Gnats—Fire-Flies—Threshing—Vegetables
  and Fruits—Condition of the Japanese Farmer—Casting
  Copper—Actors and Dancers—Thunberg’s Opinion of
  the Japanese—A. D. 1775-1776                                       139

  CHAPTER XLI

  Isaac Titsingh—His Residence in Japan—Translations from the
  Japanese—Annals of the Dairi—Memoirs of the Shōgun—Liberal
  Ideas in Japan—Marriage Ceremonies—Funeral Ceremonies—Mourning—Feast
  of Lanterns—A. D. 1779-1791                                        163

  CHAPTER XLII

  Exploration of the Northern Japanese Seas—First Russian Mission
  to Japan—Professorship of Japanese at Irkutsk—New Restrictions
  on the Dutch—Embarrassments growing out of the War
  of the French Revolution—American Flag at Nagasaki—Captain
  Stewart—Ingenuity of a Japanese Fisherman—Heer
  Doeff, Director at Deshima—Suspicious Proceedings of Captain
  Stewart—Russian Embassy—Klaproth’s Knowledge of Japanese—Doeff’s
  First Journey to Yedo—Dutch Trade in 1804 and
  1806—An American Ship at Nagasaki—The British Frigate
  “Phaeton—No Ships from Batavia—The Dutch on Short
  Allowance—English Ships from Batavia—Communication
  again suspended—Dutch and Japanese Dictionary—Children
  at the Factory—A. D. 1792-1817                                     190

  CHAPTER XLIII

  Golownin’s Capture and Imprisonment—Conveyance to Hakodate—Reception
  and Imprisonment—Interpreters—Interviews with
  the Governor—Removal to Matsumae—A Pupil in Russian—A
  Japanese Astronomer—Escape and Recapture—Treatment
  afterwards—Savants from Yedo—Japanese Science—European
  News—A Japanese Free-Thinker—Soldiers—Their
  Amusements—Thoughts on a Wedding—Domestic Arrangements—New
  Year—Return of the “Diana”—Reprisals—A
  Japanese Merchant and his Female Friend—Second Return of
  the “Diana”—Third Return of the “Diana”—Interview on
  Shore—Surrender of the Prisoners—Japanese Notification—The
  Merchant at Home—The Merchant Class in Japan—A. D.
                                                      1811-1813      212

  CHAPTER XLIV

  Renewal of the Dutch Trade—Captain Gordon in the Bay of
  Yedo—Fisscher—Meylan—Siebold—British Mutineers—Voyage
  of the “Morrison”—Japanese Edict—The “Saramang” at
  Nagasaki—The “Mercator” in the Bay of Yedo—Commodore
  Biddle in the Bay of Yedo—Shipwrecked Americans—French
  Ships of War at Nagasaki—The “Preble” at Nagasaki—Surveying
  Ship “Mariner” in the Bays of Yedo and Shimoda—New
  Notification through the Dutch—A. D. 1817-1850                     245

  CHAPTER XLV

  Foreign Relations—New Shōgun—Dutch Trade—Chinese Trade—American
  Embassy—Its Object—Letter to the Emperor—Perry’s
  First Visit to the Bay of Yedo—Death of the Shōgun—Perry’s
  Second Visit to the Bay of Yedo—Negotiation of a
  Treaty—The Treaty as agreed to—Shimoda—Hakodate—Additional
  Regulations—Japanese Currency—Burrow’s Visit
  to the Bay of Yedo—Third Visit of the American Steamers—Russian
  and English Negotiations—Exchange of Ratifications—Earthquake      274

  CHAPTER XLVI

  New Dutch Treaty—Mr. Harris, American Consul at Shimoda—His
  Convention with the Japanese—His Journey to Yedo—Second
  Visit to Yedo—Conditional Treaty—British Treaty—French
  and Russian Treaties—Japanese Embassies to the
  United States—A. D. 1854-1860                                      325


  APPENDIX

  NOTE A—Provinces by Circuits                                       343

   "   B—Bibliography                                                344

   "   C—Use of Fire-Arms in the East                                346

   "   D—Fernam Mendez Pinto                                         348

   "   E—Earliest English and Dutch Adventurers in the East—Goa      350

   "   F—Japanese Daring and Adventure Exterior to the Limits of
         Japan                                                       353

   "   G—List of Japanese Year Periods                               357

   "   H—Chronological Table of Emperors and Empresses               360

   "   I—Omitted Documents                                           362

  INDEX                                                              369




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME II


                                                                    PAGE

  Procession of Feudal Lords                              _Frontispiece_

  A Scene in a Tea Garden                                              8

  A Native Postman; Toko-no-ma                                        16

  In a Japanese Garden                                                32

  A Daimyō’s Procession                                               40

  Image of Jizō                                                       48

  An Ancient Warrior                                                  56

  An Archer                                                           64

  The Marketing and Preparation of Food: A Kitchen, showing
  Utensils; A Fishmonger                                              72

  A Carpenter Shop                                                    80

  Ploughing; A Freight Cart                                           88

  Views at Fushimi: Doll and Toy Shops; Entrance to Inari Temple     100

  A View of Fuji                                                     104

  View of Hakone; Lake Biwa                                          112

  The Ear-mound at Kyōtō                                             128

  Kwannon, Goddess of Mercy                                          136

  Scenes among the Silk Workers: Reeling; The Culture of the
  Worms                                                              144

  Industrial Workers: An Umbrella-maker; A Charcoal Vender           152

  Interior View of a Typical Japanese House                          160

  A Scene in the House of a Noble                                    178

  A Japanese Bed                                                     186

  The Cultivation of Grain: Threshing and Cleaning Grain; Coolies
  in a Rice Field; Women carrying Rice                               194

  The Processes of Weighing and Pounding Rice                        202

  A Coolie with Straw Raincoat                                       210

  Farm Scenes: Coolies carrying Bamboo Baskets; An Irrigation
  System                                                             218

  Artisans for the Common People: Repairing Wooden Clogs; Repairing
  Tatami                                                             226

  Scenes in the Home: The Doctor’s Call; Hairdressing; A Blind
  Masseur                                                            234

  Scene in a Common School                                           242

  The Wedding Ceremony                                               250

  A Buddhist Funeral                                                 258

  A Shintō Funeral                                                   264

  Scenes in Japanese Cemeteries                                      272

  Players at the Game of “Go”                                        280

  Theatrical Representations: The “No” Dance; Chrysanthemum
  Figures                                                            288

  Japanese Wrestlers                                                 296

  Portrait of Commodore Oliver H. Perry                              304

  The Reception of Commodore Perry by the Japanese Emperor           312

  Scene in the Harbor of Uraga                                       320

  Portrait of Townsend Harris                                        328

  The Old and the New: Junks; The New Battleship “Mikasa”            336

  Nihombashi, Tōkyō                                                  344

  A Modern Street Scene in Tōkyō                                     352




                                 JAPAN

                           AS IT WAS AND IS




CHAPTER XXXII

 _Post-houses—Imperial Messengers—Inns—Houses—Their Furniture and
 Interior Arrangements—Bathing and Sweating House—Gardens—Refreshment
 Houses—What they provide—Tea._


“To accommodate travellers, there is, in all the chief villages and
hamlets, a post-house, belonging to the lord of the place, where, at
all times, they may find horses, porters, footmen, etc., in readiness,
at certain settled prices. Travellers, of all ranks and qualities, with
their retinues, resort to these post-houses, which lie at from six to
sixteen English miles distance from each other, but are, generally
speaking, not so good nor so well furnished upon Kiūshiū as upon the
great island Nippon, where we came to fifty-six in going from Ōsaka to
Yedo. These post-houses are not built for inn-keeping, but only for
stabling and exchange of horses, for which reason there is a spacious
court belonging to each; also clerks and bookkeepers enough, who keep
accounts, in their master’s name, of all the daily occurrences. The
price of all such things as are to be hired at these post-houses is
settled, not only according to distances, but with regard to the
goodness or badness of the roads, to the price of victuals, forage,
and the like. One post-house with another, a horse to ride on, with
two portmantles and an _atotsuke_, may be had for eight sen a mile.
A horse, which is only saddled, and hath neither men nor baggage to
carry, will cost six sen; porters and kago-men, five sen, and so on.

“Messengers are waiting, day and night, at all these post-houses, to
carry the letters, edicts, proclamations, etc., of the emperor and the
princes of the empire, which they take up the moment they are delivered
at the post-house, and carry to the next with all speed. They are
kept in a small, black varnished box, bearing the coat of arms of the
emperor or prince who sends them, which the messenger carries upon his
shoulder, tied to a small staff. Two of these messengers always run
together, that in case any accident should befall either of them upon
the road, the other may take his place, and deliver the box at the next
post-house. All travellers, even the princes of the empire and their
retinues, must retire out of the way and give a free passage to the
messengers who carry letters or orders from the emperor, which they
take care to signify at a due distance by ringing a small bell.

“There are inns enough, and tolerable good ones, all along the road.
The best are in those villages where there are post-houses. At these
even princes and princely retinues may be conveniently lodged, treated
suitably to their rank, and provided with all necessaries. Like other
well-built houses, they are but one story high, or, if there be two
stories, the second is low, and good for little else but stowage. The
inns are not broader in front than other houses, but considerably
deep, sometimes forty ken, or two hundred and forty feet, with a
_Tsubo_—that is, a small pleasure-garden—behind, enclosed with a neat
white wall. The front hath only lattice windows, which, in the daytime,
are kept open. The folding screens and movable partitions which divide
the several apartments, unless there be some man of quality with his
retinue at that time lodged there, are also so disposed as to lay open
to travellers, as they go along, a very agreeable perspective view
across the whole house into the garden behind. The floor is raised
about three feet above the level of the street, and by jetting out,
both towards the street and garden, forms a sort of gallery, which is
covered with a roof, and on which travellers pass their time, diverting
themselves with sitting or walking. From it, also, they mount their
horses, for fear of dirtying their feet by mounting in the street.

“In some great inns there is a passage, contrived for the conveniency
of people of quality, that, coming out of their norimono, they may walk
directly to their apartments, without being obliged to pass through the
fore part of the house, which is commonly not over clean, and makes
but an indifferent figure, being covered with poor, sorry mats, and
the rooms divided only by ordinary screens. The kitchen is in this
fore part of the house, and often fills it with smoke, as they have no
chimneys, but only a hole in the roof to let the smoke through. Here
foot travellers and ordinary people live, among the servants. People of
fashion are accommodated in the back part of the house, which is kept
clean and neat to admiration. Not the least spot is to be seen upon the
walls, floors, carpets, window screens, in short, nowhere in the room,
which looks as if it were quite new, and but newly furnished. There
are no tables, chairs, benches, or other furniture in these rooms. They
are only adorned with some _Miseratsie_ (?), of which more presently,
put into or hung up in the rooms, for travellers to amuse their leisure
by examining, which, indeed, some of them very well deserve. The
_Tsubo_, or garden behind the house, is also very curiously kept, for
travellers to divert themselves with walking in it, and beholding the
beautiful flowers it is commonly adorned with.

“The rooms in Japanese houses have seldom more than one blank wall,
which is plastered with clay of Ōsaka, a good fine sort, and so left
bare, without any other ornament. It is so thin that the least kick
would break it to pieces. On all other sides the room has either
windows or folding-screens, which slide in grooves, as occasion
requires. The lower groove is cut in a sill, which runs even with the
mats, and the upper one in a beam, which comes down two or three feet
from the ceiling. The beams in which the grooves run are plastered with
clay of Ōsaka. The ceiling, to show the curious running of the veins
and grain of the wood, is sometimes only covered with a thin, slight
layer of a transparent varnish. Sometimes they paste it over with
the same sort of variously colored and flowered paper of which their
screens are made. The paper windows, which let light into the room,
have wooden shutters on both sides, taken off in the daytime, but put
on at night.

“In the solid wall of the room there is always a _Toko_, as they call
it, or sort of cupboard, raised about a foot or more above the floor,
and very near two feet deep. It commonly stands in that part of the
wall which is just opposite to the door, that being reckoned the most
honorable. Just before this toko two extraordinarily fine mats are
laid, one upon the other, and both upon the ordinary mats which cover
the floor. These are for people of the first quality to sit upon, for,
upon the arrival of travellers of less note, they are removed out of
the way. At the side of the toko is a _Tokowaki_, as they call it,
or side cupboard, with some few shelves which serve the landlord or
travellers, if they please, to lay their most esteemed book upon, they
holding it, as the Mahometans do their Alcoran, too sacred to be laid
on the ground. Upon the arrival of the Dutch, this sacred book of the
landlord is put out of the way. Above is a drawer, where they put up
the inkhorn, paper, writings, books, and other things of this kind.
Here, also, travellers find sometimes the wooden box which the natives
use at night, instead of a pillow. It is almost cubical, hollow,
and made of six thin boards joined together, curiously varnished,
smoothed, and very neat, about a span long, but not quite so broad,
that travellers by turning it may lay their head in that posture which
they find the most easy.[1] Besides this wooden pillow, travellers
have no other bedding to expect from the landlord, and must carry
their own along with them or lie on the mats, covering themselves with
their clothes. In that side of the room next to the toko is commonly a
balcony, serving the person lodged in this, the chief room, to look out
upon the neighboring garden, fields, or water, without stirring from
the carpets placed below the toko.

“Beneath the floor, which is covered with fine, well-stuffed mats, is
a square walled hole, which, in the winter season, after having first
removed the mats, they fill with ashes and lay coals upon them to keep
the room warm. The landladies in their room put a low table upon this
fire-hole, and spread a large carpet or tablecloth over it, for people
to sit underneath, and to defend themselves against the cold. In rooms
where there are no fire-holes they use in the winter brass or earthen
pots, very artfully made, and filled with ashes, with two iron sticks,
which serve instead of fire-tongs, much after the same manner as they
use two other small sticks at table instead of forks.

“I come now to the above mentioned _Miseratsie_ (?), as they call them,
being curious and amusing ornaments of their rooms. In our journey
to court I took notice of the following: 1. A paper neatly bordered
with a rich piece of embroidery, instead of a frame, either with the
picture of a saint done apparently with a coarse pencil, and in a few,
perhaps three or four, strokes, wherein, however, the proportions and
resemblance have been so far observed, that scarce anybody can miss
finding out whom it was designed to represent, nor help admiring the
ingenuity and skill of the master; or else a judicious moral sentence
of some noted philosopher or poet, writ with his own hand, or the
hand of some noted writing-master, who had a mind to show his skill
by a few hasty strokes or characters, indifferent enough at first
sight, but nevertheless very ingeniously drawn, and such as will
afford sufficient matter of amusement and speculation to a curious and
attentive spectator; and, lest anybody should call their being genuine
in question, they are commonly signed, not only by the writing-masters
themselves, but have the hands and seals of some other witnesses put
to them. They are hung up nowhere else but in the toko, as the most
honorable place of the room, and this because the Japanese set a great
value upon them.

2. “Pictures of Chinese, as also of birds, trees, landskips, and other
things, upon white screens, done by some eminent master, or rather
scratched with a few hasty, affected strokes, after such a manner that,
unless seen at a proper distance, they scarce appear natural.

3. “A flower-vase filled with all sorts of curious flowers, and green
branches of trees, such as the season affords, curiously ranged
according to the rules of art, it being as much an art in this country
to arrange a flower-vase as it is in Europe to carve, or to lay a
table.[2] Sometimes there is, instead, a perfuming-pan, of excellent
good workmanship, cast in brass or copper, resembling a crane, lion,
dragon, or other strange animal. I took notice once that there was
an earthen pot of Cologne, such as is used to keep Spauwater in,
with all the cracks and fissures carefully mended, used in lieu of a
flower-vase, it being esteemed a very great rarity, because of the
distant place it came from, the clay it was made of, and its uncommon
shape.

4. “Some strange, uncommon pieces of wood, wherein the colors and grain
either naturally run after a curious and unusual manner, or have been
brought by art to represent something.

5. “Some neat and beautiful network, adorning either the balcony and
windows towards the garden, or the tops of the doors, screens, and
partitions of the chief apartments.

6. “A bunch of a tree, or a piece of a rotten root, or of an old stump,
remarkable for their monstrous deformed shape.

“After this manner the chief and back apartments are furnished in great
inns, and houses of substantial people. The other rooms gradually
decrease in cleanliness, neatness, and delicacy of furniture; the
screens, windows, mats, and other ornaments and household goods,
after they have for some time adorned the chief apartments, and begin
to be spotted and to grow old, being removed into the other rooms
successively, there to be quite worn out. The chief of the other rooms
is that where they keep their plate, china ware, and other household
goods, ranged upon the floor in curious order, according to their size,
shape, and use. Most of these are made of wood, thin, but strongly
varnished, the greatest part upon a dark red ground. They are washed
with warm water every time they have been used, and wiped clean with
a cloth; by which means they will, though constantly used, keep clean
and neat, and in their full lustre for several years.

[Illustration: A SCENE IN A TEA GARDEN]

“The small gallery or walk which jets out from
the house towards the garden leads to the house of office and to a
bathing-stove, or hot-house. The house of office is built on one side
of the back part of the house, and hath two doors to go in. Not far
off stands a basin filled with water to wash your hands, commonly an
oblong, rough stone, the upper part curiously cut out into the form
of a basin. A new pail of bamboo hangs near it, and is covered with a
neat fir or cypress board, to which they put a new handle every time
it hath been used, to wit, a fresh stick of the bamboo cane, it being
a very clean sort of a wood, and in a manner naturally varnished.
The bathing-place, commonly built on the back side of the garden,
contains either a hot-house to sweat in, or a warm bath, and sometimes
both. It is made warm and got ready every evening, because the Japanese
usually bathe or sweat after their day’s journey is over, thinking by
this means to refresh themselves, and to sweat off their weariness.
As they can undress themselves in an instant, so they are ready at a
minute’s warning to go into it; for they need but untie their sash,
and all their clothes fall down at once, leaving them quite naked,
excepting a small band which they wear close to the body about their
waist. Their hot-house, which they go into only to sweat, is an almost
cubical trunk, or stove, raised about three feet above the ground,
and built close to the wall of the bathing-place, on the outside,—not
quite six feet high, but about nine feet long, and of the same breadth.
The floor is laid with small planed laths or planks, some few inches
distant from each other, both for the easy passage of the rising vapors
and the convenient outlet of the water. You go, or rather creep in,
through a small door or shutter. There are two other shutters, one on
each side, to let out the superfluous vapor. The empty space beneath,
down to the ground, is enclosed with a wall to prevent the vapors from
getting out on the sides. Towards the yard, just beneath the hot-house,
is a furnace, part of which stands out towards the yard, where they put
in the necessary water and plants. This part is shut with a clapboard
when the fire is burning, to make all the vapors ascend through the
inner and open part into the hot-house. There are always two tubs,
one of warm, the other of cold water, for such as have a mind to wash
themselves.

“The garden is the only place in which we Dutchmen, being treated in
all respects little better than prisoners, have liberty to walk. It is
commonly square, with a back door, and walled in very neatly. There are
few good houses or inns without one. If there be not room enough for a
garden, they have at least an old ingrafted plum, cherry, or apricot
tree; and the older, the more crooked and monstrous, the greater value
they put upon it. Sometimes they let the branches grow into the rooms.
In order to make it bear larger flowers and in greater quantity, they
trim it to a few, perhaps two or three, branches. It cannot be denied
but that the great number of beautiful, incarnadine double flowers are
a curious ornament to this back part of the house, but they have this
disadvantage, that they bear no fruit. In some small houses and inns
of less note, where there is not room enough neither for a garden nor
trees, they have at least an opening or window, to let the light fall
into the back rooms, before which, for the amusement and diversion of
travellers, is put a small tub full of water, wherein they commonly
keep alive some gold or silver fish; and for further ornament there
is generally a flower-pot or two standing there. Sometimes they plant
dwarf trees, which will grow easily upon pumice or other porous stones,
without any earth at all, provided the root be put into the water,
whence it will suck up sufficient nourishment. Ordinary people often
plant the same kind of trees before their street-doors.

“But to return to the Tsubo, or garden. A good one must include at
least thirty feet square, and consist of the following essential parts:
1. The ground is covered partly with roundish stones of different
colors, gathered in rivers or upon the sea-shore, well washed and
cleaned, and those of the same kind, laid together in form of beds,
partly with gravel which is swept every day, and kept clean and neat to
admiration, the large stones being laid in the middle as a path to walk
upon without injuring the gravel, the whole in a seeming but ingenious
confusion. 2. Some few flower-bearing shrubs planted confusedly, though
not without some certain rules. Amidst them stands sometimes a _Saguer_
(?), as they call it, or scarce outlandish tree, sometimes a dwarf tree
or two. 3. A small rock or hill in a corner of the garden, made in
imitation of nature, curiously adorned with birds and insects cast in
brass, and placed between the stones. Sometimes the model of a temple
stands upon it, built, as for the sake of the prospect they generally
are, on a remarkable eminence or the borders of a precipice. Often a
small rivulet rushes down the stones with an agreeable noise, the whole
in due proportions and as near as possible resembling nature. 4. A
small thicket or wood on the side of the hill, for which the gardeners
choose such trees as will grow close to one another, and plant and
cut them according to their largeness, nature, and the color of their
flowers and leaves, so as to make the whole very accurately imitate a
natural wood or forest. 5. A cistern or pond, as mentioned above, with
live fish kept in it, and surrounded with proper plants, that is, such
as love a watery soil, and would lose their beauty and greenness if
planted in a dry ground. It is a particular profession to lay out these
gardens, and to keep them so curiously and nicely as they ought to be.

“There are innumerable smaller inns, cook-shops, sake, or ale-houses,
pastry-cooks’ and confectioners’ shops, all along the road, even in
the midst of woods and forests, and at the tops of mountains, where
a weary foot-traveller, and the meaner sort of people, find at all
times, for a few sen, something warm to eat, or hot tea, or sake, or
somewhat else of the kind, wherewith to refresh themselves. ’Tis true
these cook-shops are but poor, sorry houses, if compared to larger
inns, being inhabited only by poor people, who have enough to do to
get a livelihood by this trade; and yet, even in these, there is
always something or other to amuse passengers, and to draw them in;
sometimes a garden and orchard behind the house, which is seen from
the street, looking through the passage, and which, by its beautiful
flowers, or the agreeable sight of a stream of clear water, falling
down from a neighboring natural or artificial hill, or by some other
curious ornament of this kind, tempts people to come in and repose
themselves. At other times a large flower-pot stands in the window,
filled with flowering branches of trees, disposed in a very curious
manner. Sometimes a handsome, well-looking housemaid, or a couple
of young girls, well dressed, stand under the door, and with great
civility invite people to come in, and to buy something. The eatables,
such as cakes, or whatever it be, are kept before the fire, in an open
room, sticking to skewers of bamboos, so that passengers, as they
go along, may take them and pursue their journey without stopping.
The landladies, cooks, and maids, as soon as they see anybody coming
at a distance, blow up the fire, to make it look as if the victuals
had been just got ready. Some busy themselves with making the tea,
others prepare soup, others fill cups with sake or other liquors, to
present them to passengers, all the while talking and chattering, and
commending their merchandise with a voice loud enough to be heard by
their next neighbors of the same profession.

“The eatables sold at these cook-shops, besides tea, and sometimes
sake, are _manjū_, a sort of round cakes, which they learned to make
from the Portuguese, as big as common hens’ eggs, and filled within
with black-bean flour and sugar; cakes of the jelly of a root found
upon mountains, and cut into round slices, like carrots, and roasted;
snails, oysters, shell-fish, and other small fish, roasted, boiled, or
pickled; Chinese _laxa_, a thin sort of pap, or paste, made of fine
wheat flour, cut into small, thin, long slices, and baked; all sorts of
plants, roots, and sprigs which the season affords, washed and boiled
in water with salt; innumerable other dishes peculiar to this country,
made of seeds, powdered roots, and vegetables, boiled or baked, dressed
in many different ways.

“The common sauce for these and other dishes is a little _soy_, as they
call it, mixed with _sake_, or the beer of the country. _Sanshō_ leaves
are laid upon the dish for ornament, and sometimes thin slices of fine
ginger and lemon peel. Sometimes they put powdered ginger, sanshō, or
the powder of some root growing in the country, into the soup. They
are also provided with sweetmeats, of several different colors and
sorts, which, generally speaking, are far more agreeable to the eye
than pleasing to the taste, being but indifferently sweetened with
sugar, and so tough that one must have good teeth to chew them. Foot
travellers find it set down in their printed road-books, which they
always carry about them, where and at what price the best victuals of
the kind are to be got.

“Tea (since most travellers drink scarce anything else upon the road)
is sold at all the inns and cook-shops, besides many tea-booths set up
for this trade alone, in the midst of fields and woods, and at the stop
of mountains. The tea sold at all these places is but a coarse sort,
being only the largest leaves, which remain upon the shrub after the
youngest and tenderest have been plucked off, at two different times,
for the use of people of fashion, who constantly drink it, before or
after their meals. These larger leaves are not rolled up and curled, as
the better sort of tea is, but simply roasted in a pan, and continually
stirred whilst they are roasting, lest they should get a burnt taste.
When they are done enough, they put them by in straw baskets, under the
roof of the house, near the place where the smoke comes out. They are
not a bit nicer in preparing it for drinking, for they commonly take a
good handful of the tea leaves, and boil them in a large iron kettle
full of water. The leaves are sometimes put into a small bag; but, if
not, they have a little basket swimming in the kettle, which they make
use of to keep the leaves down, when they have a mind to take out some
of the clear decoction. Half a cup of this decoction is mixed with cold
water, when travellers ask for it. Tea thus prepared smells and tastes
like lye—the leaves it is made of, besides that they are of a very bad
sort, being seldom less than a year old; and yet the Japanese esteem
it much more healthful for daily use than the young, tender leaves,
prepared after the Chinese manner, which they say affect the head too
strongly, though even these lose a great part of their narcotic quality
when boiled.”[3]




CHAPTER XXXIII

 _Number of People on the Road—Princely Retinues—Pilgrims to
 Ise—Junrei Pilgrims—Naked Devotees—Religious Beggars—Begging Order
 of Nuns—Yama-Bushi, or Mountain Priests—Buddhist Beggars—Singular
 Bell-chiming—Hucksters and Peddlers—Courtesans._


“It is scarce credible,” says Kämpfer, “what numbers of people daily
travel in this country; and I can assure the reader, from my own
experience, having passed it four times, that Tōkaidō, which is,
indeed, the most frequented of the seven great roads in Japan, is upon
some days more crowded than the public streets in any of the most
populous towns in Europe. This is owing partly to the country’s being
extremely populous, partly to the frequent journeys which the natives
undertake, oftener than perhaps any other people.

“It is the duty of the princes and lords of the empire, as also of
the governors of the imperial cities and crown lands, to go to court
once a year to pay their homage and respect. They are attended, going
up and returning, by their whole court, and travel with a pomp and
magnificence becoming as well their own quality and riches as the
majesty of the powerful monarch whom they are going to see. The train
of some of the most eminent fills up the road for some days. Though we
travelled pretty fast, yet we often met the baggage and fore-runners,
consisting of the servants and inferior officers, for two days
together, dispersed in several troops, and the prince himself followed
but the third day, attended with his numerous court, all marching in
admirable order. The retinue of one of the chief _Daimiōs_, as they are
called, is computed to amount to about twenty thousand men, more or
less; that of a _Shōmiō_ to about ten thousand; that of a governor of
the imperial cities and crown lands to from one to several hundreds,
according to his quality or revenues.[4]

“If two or more of these princes and lords should chance to travel
the same road at the same time, they would prove a great hindrance to
one another, particularly if they should happen to meet at the same
post-house or village; to prevent which it is usual for great princes
and lords to bespeak the several post-houses by which they are to pass,
with all the inns, those of the first quality a month, others a week or
two, before their arrival. The time of their intended arrival is also
notified in all the cities, villages, and hamlets, by putting up small
boards on high poles of bamboo, signifying in a few characters what day
of the month such or such a lord will be at that village, to dine or
sleep there.

[Illustration: A NATIVE POSTMAN; TOKO-NO-MA]

“Numerous troops of fore-runners, harbingers, clerks, cooks, and other
inferior officers go before to provide lodgings, victuals, and other
things necessary for the entertainment of their prince and master,
and his court. They are followed by the prince’s heavy baggage, packed
up either in small trunks, as already described, and carried upon
horses, each with a banner, bearing the coat of arms and the name of
the possessor, or else in large chests, covered with red lackered
leather, again with the possessor’s coat of arms, and carried upon
men’s shoulders, with multitudes of inspectors to look after them. Next
come great numbers of smaller retinues, belonging to the chief officers
and noblemen attending the prince, with pikes, scymetars, bows and
arrows, umbrellas, palanquins, led horses, and other marks of their
grandeur, suitable to their birth, quality, and office. Some of these
are carried in norimono, others in kago, and others go on horseback.

“The prince’s own numerous train, marching in an admirable and curious
order, is divided into several troops, each headed by a proper
commanding officer, as, 1. Five, more or less, fine horses, each led
by two grooms, one on each side, two footmen walking behind. 2. Five
or six, and sometimes more, porters, richly clad, walking one by one,
and carrying lackered chests, and japanned neat trunks and baskets,
upon their shoulders, wherein are kept the wearing apparel and other
necessaries for the daily use of the prince, each porter attended
by two footmen. 3. Ten or more fellows, walking one by one, and
carrying rich scymetars, pikes of state, fire-arms, and other weapons,
in lackered wooden cases, as, also, quivers with bows and arrows.
Sometimes, for magnificence sake, there are more chest-bearers and led
horses following this troop. 4. Two, three, or more men, who carry
pikes of state, as the badges of the prince’s power and authority,
adorned at the upper end with bunches of cock feathers, or other
ornaments peculiar to such or such a prince. They walk one by one,
and are attended each by two footmen. 5. A gentleman, attended by two
footmen, carrying the prince’s hat, worn as a shelter from the heat
of the sun, and which is covered with black velvet. 6. A gentleman
carrying the prince’s sombrero, or umbrella, which is covered in like
manner with black velvet, this person also attended by two footmen.
7. Some more bearers of trunks, covered with varnished leather, with
the prince’s coat of arms upon them, each with two men to take care of
it. 8. Sixteen, more or less, of the prince’s pages, and gentlemen of
his bed-chamber, taken out from among the first quality of his court,
richly clad, and walking two and two before his norimono. 9. The prince
himself, sitting in a stately norimono, carried by six or eight men,
clad in rich liveries, with several others walking at the norimono’s
sides, to take it up by turns; also, two or three gentlemen of the
prince’s bed-chamber, to give him what he wants and asks for, and to
assist and support him in getting in or out. 10. Two or three horses of
state, the saddles covered with black. One of these horses carries a
large elbow-chair, which is sometimes covered with black velvet. These
horses are attended each by several grooms and footmen in liveries,
and some are led by the prince’s own pages. 11. Two pike-bearers. 12.
Ten or more people, carrying each two baskets of a monstrous size,
fixed to the ends of a pole, which they lay on their shoulders in such
a manner that one basket hangs down before and the other behind them.
These baskets are more for state than for any use. Sometimes some
chest-bearers walk among them, to increase the troop. In this order
marches the prince’s own train, which is followed by six to twelve led
horses with their leaders, grooms, and footmen, all in liveries. The
procession is closed by a multitude of the prince’s domestics and other
officers of his court, with their own numerous trains and attendants,
pike-bearers, chest-bearers, and footmen, in liveries. Some of these
are carried in kago, and the whole troop is headed by the prince’s
high-steward, carried in a norimono. If one of the prince’s sons
accompanies his father in this journey to court, he follows with his
own train immediately after his father’s norimono.

“It is a sight exceedingly curious and worthy of admiration, to see
all the persons who compose the numerous train of a great prince,
clad, the pike-bearers, the norimono-men and livery-men only excepted,
in black silk, marching in an elegant order, with a decent, becoming
gravity, and keeping so profound a silence that not the least noise
is to be heard, save what must necessarily arise from the motion and
rushing of their dresses, and the trampling of the horses and men.
On the other hand, it appears ridiculous to an European to see all
the pike-bearers and norimono-men, with their clothes tucked up above
their waists, exposing their nakedness to the spectators’ view, with
only a piece of cloth about their loins. What appears still more old
and whimsical is to see the pages, pike-bearers, umbrella and hat
bearers, chest-bearers, and all the footmen in liveries, affect, when
they pass through some remarkable town, or by the train of another
prince or lord, a strange mimic march or dance. Every step they make,
they draw up one foot quite to their backs, stretching out the arm on
the opposite side as far as they can, and putting themselves in such a
posture as if they had a mind to swim through the air. Meanwhile the
pikes, hats, umbrellas, chests, boxes, baskets, and whatever else they
carry are danced and tossed about in a very singular manner, answering
to the motion of their bodies. The norimono-men, who have their sleeves
tied with a string as near the shoulders as possible, so as to leave
their arms naked, carry the pole of the norimono either upon their
shoulders, or else upon the palms of their hands, holding it above
their heads. Whilst they hold it up with one arm, they stretch out the
other, putting the hand into a horizontal posture, whereby, and by
their short, deliberate steps and stiff knees, they affect a ridiculous
fear and circumspection. If the prince steps out of his norimono into
one of the green huts which are purposely built for him at convenient
distances on the road, or if he goes into a private house, either to
drink a dish of tea or for any other purpose, he always leaves a koban
with the landlord as a reward for his trouble. At dinner or supper the
expense is much greater.

“All the pilgrims who go to Ise, whatever province of the empire they
come from, must travel over part of this great road. This pilgrimage is
made at all times of the year, but particularly in the spring, at which
season vast multitudes of these pilgrims are seen upon the roads. The
Japanese of both sexes, young and old, rich and poor, undertake this
meritorious journey, generally speaking, on foot, in order to obtain,
at this holy place, indulgences and remission of their sins. Some of
these pilgrims are so poor that they must live wholly upon what they
get by begging. On this account, and by reason of their great number,
they are exceedingly troublesome to the princes and lords who at that
time of the year go to court, or come thence, though otherwise they
address themselves in a very civil manner, bareheaded, and with a
low, submissive voice, saying, ‘Great Lord, be pleased to give the
poor pilgrim a zeni, towards the expense of his journey to Ise,’ or
words to that effect. Of all the Japanese, the inhabitants of Yedo and
the province Oshū are the most inclined to this pilgrimage. Children,
if apprehensive of severe punishment for their misdemeanors, will run
away from their parents and go to Ise, thence to fetch an _Oharai_, or
indulgence, which upon their return is deemed a sufficient expiation
of their crimes, and a sure means to reconcile them to their friends.
Multitudes of these pilgrims are obliged to pass whole nights lying in
the open fields, exposed to all the injuries of wind and weather, some
for want of room in inns, others out of poverty; and of these last many
are found dead upon the road, in which case their _Oharai_, if they
have any about them, is carefully taken up and hid in the next tree or
bush.

“Others make this pilgrimage in a comical and merry way, drawing
people’s eyes upon them as well as getting their money. They form
themselves into companies, generally of four persons, clad in
white linen, after the fashion of the Kuge, or persons of the holy
ecclesiastical court of the Dairi. Two of them walking a grave, slow,
deliberate pace, and standing often still, carry a large barrow,
adorned and hung about with fir-branches and cut white paper, on which
they place a resemblance of a large bell, made of light substance, or
a kettle, or something else, alluding to some old romantic history of
their gods and ancestors; whilst a third, with a commander’s staff
in his hand, adorned, out of respect to his office, with a bunch of
white paper, walks, or rather dances, before the barrow, singing with
a dull, heavy voice, a song relating to the subject they are about to
represent. Meanwhile, the fourth goes begging before the houses, or
addresses himself to charitable travellers, and receives and keeps the
money which is given them. Their day’s journeys are so short that they
can easily spend the whole summer upon such an expedition.

“The _Junrei_, another remarkable sight travellers meet with upon
the roads, are people who go to visit in pilgrimage the thirty-three
chief Kwannon temples, which lie dispersed throughout the empire.
They commonly travel two or three together, singing a miserable
Kwannon-song from house to house, and sometimes playing upon a fiddle,
or upon a guitar, as vagabond beggars do in Germany. However, they do
not importune travellers for their charity. They have the names of
such Kwannon temples as they have not yet visited writ upon a small
board hanging about their necks. They are clad in white, after a very
singular fashion, peculiar only to this sect. Some people like so well
to ramble about the country after this manner that they will apply
themselves to no other trade and profession, but choose to end their
days in this perpetual pilgrimage.

“Sometimes one meets with very odd sights; as, for instance, people
running naked along the roads in the hardest frosts, wearing only a
little straw about their waists. These people generally undertake so
extraordinary and troublesome a journey to visit certain temples,
pursuant to religious vows, which they promised to fulfil in case they
should obtain, from the bounty of their gods, deliverance from some
fatal distemper, they themselves, their parents or relations, labor
under, or from some other great misfortunes they were threatened with.
They live very poorly and miserably upon the road, receive no charity,
and proceed on their journey by themselves, almost perpetually running.

“Multitudes of beggars crowd the roads in all parts of the empire,
but particularly on the so much frequented Tōkaidō, among them many
lusty young fellows, who shave their heads. To this shaved begging
tribe belongs a certain remarkable religious order of young girls,
called _Bikuni_, which is as much as to say, nuns. They live under the
protection of the nunneries at Kamakura and Miyako, to which they pay a
certain sum a year, of what they get by begging, as an acknowledgment
of their authority. They are, in my opinion, by much the handsomest
girls we saw in Japan. The daughters of poor parents, if they be
handsome and agreeable, apply for and easily obtain this privilege
of begging in the habit of nuns, knowing that beauty is one of the
most persuasive inducements to generosity. The Yamabushi, or begging
mountain priests (of whom more hereafter), frequently incorporate
their own daughters into this religious order, and take their wives
from among these Bikuni. Some of them have been bred up as courtesans,
and having served their time, buy the privilege of entering into this
religious order, therein to spend the remainder of their youth and
beauty. They live two or three together, and make an excursion every
day some few miles from their dwelling-house. They particularly watch
people of fashion, who travel in norimono, or in kago, or on horseback.
As soon as they perceive somebody coming, they draw near and address
themselves, though not all together, but singly, every one accosting
a gentleman by herself singing a rural song; and if he proves very
liberal and charitable, she will keep him company and divert him for
some hours. As, on the one hand, very little religious blood seems
to circulate in their veins, so, on the other, it doth not appear
that they labor under any considerable degree of poverty. It is true,
indeed, they conform themselves to the rules of their order, by shaving
their heads, but they take care to cover and to wrap them up in caps or
hoods made of black silk. They go decently and neatly dressed, after
the fashion of ordinary people. They wear also a large hat to cover
their faces, which are often painted, and to shelter themselves from
the heat of the sun. They commonly have a shepherd’s rod or hook in
their hands. Their voice, gestures, and apparent behavior, are neither
too bold and daring, nor too much dejected and affected, but free,
comely, and seemingly modest. However, not to extol their modesty
beyond what it deserves, it must be observed, that they make nothing of
laying their bosoms quite bare to the view of charitable travellers,
all the while they keep them company, under pretence of its being
customary in the country; and, for aught I know, they may be, though
never so religiously shaved, full as impudent and lascivious as any
public courtesan.

“Another religious begging order is that of _Yamabushi_, as they are
commonly called; that is, the mountain priests, or rather _Yamabu_,
mountain soldiers, because at all times they go armed with swords and
scymetars. They do not shave their heads, but follow the rules of the
first founder of this order, who mortified his body by climbing up
steep, high mountains; at least, they conform themselves thereunto
in their dress, apparent behavior, and some outward ceremonies; for
they are fallen short of his rigorous way of life. They have a head,
or general, of their order, residing at Miyako, to whom they are
obliged to bring a certain sum of money every year, and who has the
distribution of dignities and of titles, whereby they are known among
themselves. They commonly live in the neighborhood of some famous
Kami temple, and accost travellers in the name of that Kami which
is worshipped there, making a short discourse of his holiness and
miracles, with a loud, coarse voice. Meanwhile, to make the noise
still louder, they rattle their long staffs, loaded at the upper end
with iron rings, to take up the charity money which is given them; and
last of all, they blow a trumpet made of a large shell. They carry
their children along with them upon the same begging errand, clad like
their fathers, but with their heads shaved. Those little bastards are
exceedingly troublesome and importunate with travellers, and commonly
take care to light on them, as they are going up some hill or mountain,
where, because of the difficult ascent, they cannot well escape, nor
indeed otherwise get rid of them without giving them something. In some
places they and their fathers accost travellers in company with a troop
of Bikuni, and, with their rattling, singing, trumpeting, chattering,
and crying, make such a frightful noise as would make one almost mad or
deaf. These mountain priests are frequently applied to by superstitious
people for conjuring, fortune-telling, foretelling future events,
recovering lost goods, and the like purposes. They profess themselves
to be of the Kami religion, as established of old, and yet they are
never suffered to attend, or to take care of, any of the Kami temples.

“There are many more beggars travellers meet with along the roads. Some
of these are old, and, in all appearance, honest men, who, the better
to prevail upon people to part with their charity, are shaved and clad
after the fashion of the Butsudō [Buddhist] priests. Sometimes there
are two of them standing together, each with a small, oblong book
before him. This book contains part of their Hōkekyō, or Bible, printed
in the significant or learned language.[5] However, I would not have
the reader think, as if they themselves had any understanding in that
language, or know how to read the book placed before them. They only
learn some part of it by heart, and speak it aloud, looking towards the
book, as if they did actually read in it, and expecting something from
their hearers, as a reward for their trouble.

“Others are found sitting near some river, or running water, making a
_Segaki_,—a certain ceremony for the relief of departed souls. This
Segaki is made after the following manner: They take a green branch
of the _Hana Shikimi_ tree, and, murmuring certain words with a low
voice, wash and scour it with some shavings of wood, whereon they
had written the names of some deceased persons. This they believe to
contribute greatly to relieve and refresh the departed souls confined
in purgatory; and, for aught I know, it may answer that purpose full as
well as any number of masses, as they are celebrated to the same end
in Roman Catholic countries. Any person that hath a mind to purchase
the benefit of this washing, for himself or his relations and friends,
throws a zeni upon the mat, which is spread out near the beggar, who
does not so much as offer to return him any manner of thanks for it,
thinking his art and devotion deserve still better; besides that, it
is not customary amongst beggars of note to thank people for their
charity. Any one who hath learned the proper ceremonies necessary to
make the Segaki is at liberty to do it.

“Others of this tribe, who make up far the greater part, sit upon the
road all day long upon a small, coarse mat. They have a flat bell, like
a broad mortar, lying before them, and do nothing else but repeat,
with a lamentable singing tune, the word _Namida_, which is contracted
from _Namu Amida Butsu_, a short form of prayer wherewith they address
Amida as the patron and advocate of departed souls. Meanwhile they beat
almost continually with a small wooden hammer upon the aforesaid bell,
and this, they say, in order to be the sooner heard by Amida, and, I am
apt to think, not without an intent, too, to be the better taken notice
of by passengers.

“Another sort we met with as we went along were differently clad, some
in an ecclesiastical, others in a secular habit. These stood in the
fields, next to the road, and commonly had a sort of altar standing
before them, upon which they placed the idol of their Briaréus, or
Kwannon, as they call him, carved in wood and gilt; or the pictures
of some other idols, scurvily done, as, for instance, the picture of
Amida, the supreme judge of departed souls; of Emma, or the head-keeper
of the prison, whereunto the condemned souls are confined; of _Jizō_,
or the supreme commander in the purgatory of children; and some others,
wherewith, and by some representations of the flames and torments
prepared for the wicked in a future world, they endeavor to stir up in
passengers compassion and charity.

“Other beggars, and these, to all appearance, honest enough, are met
sitting along the road, clad much after the same manner with the
Kwannon beggars, with a _Jizō_ staff in their hand. These have made vow
not to speak during a certain time, and express their want and desire
only by a sad, dejected, woeful countenance.[6]

“Not to mention numberless other common beggars, some sick, some stout
and lusty enough, who get people’s charity by praying, singing, playing
upon fiddles, guitars, and other musical instruments, or performing
some juggler’s tricks, I will close the account of this vermin with an
odd, remarkable sort of a beggar’s music, or rather chime of bells, we
sometimes, but rarely, met with in our journey to court. A young boy,
with a sort of a wooden machine pendent from his neck, and a rope, with
eight strings about it, from which hang down eight bells, of different
sounds, turns round in a circle, with a swiftness scarce credible, in
such a manner that both the machine, which rests upon his shoulders,
and the bells, turn round with him horizontally, the boy, in the
meanwhile, with great dexterity and quickness, beating them with two
hammers, makes a strange, odd sort of a melody. To increase the noise,
two people sitting near him beat, one upon a large, the other upon a
smaller drum. Those who are pleased with their performance throw them
some zeni as they pass.[7]

“The crowd and throng upon the roads is not a little increased by
numberless small retail merchants, and children of country people, who
run about from morning to night, following travellers, and offering
them for sale their poor, for the most part eatable, merchandise,—such
as several cakes and sweetmeats, wherein the quantity of sugar is so
inconsiderable that it is scarce perceptible, other cakes, of different
sorts, made of flour, roots boiled in water and salt, road-books, straw
shoes for horses and men, ropes, strings, toothpickers, and a multitude
of other trifles, made of wood, straw, reed, and bamboos.

“Nor must I forget to take notice of the numberless wenches, the great
and small inns, and the tea-booths and cook-shops in villages and
hamlets are furnished withal. About noon, when they have done dressing
and painting themselves, they make their appearance, standing under the
door of the house, or sitting upon the small gallery around it, whence,
with a smiling countenance and good words, they invite the travelling
troops that pass by to call in at their inn, preferably to others. In
some places, where there are several inns standing near one another,
they make, with their chattering and rattling, no inconsiderable noise,
and prove not a little troublesome.

“I cannot forbear mentioning in this place a small mistake of Mr.
Caron, in his account of Japan, where he shows so tender a regard for
the honor of the Japanese sex (perhaps out of respect to his lady,
who was a Japan woman) as to assert that, except in the privileged
houses devoted to it, this trade is not elsewhere carried on. It
is unquestionably true that there is hardly a public inn upon the
great island Nippon, but what is provided with courtesans, and if
too many customers resort to one place, the neighboring inn-keepers
will lend their wenches, on condition that what money they get shall
be faithfully paid them. Nor is it a new custom come up but lately,
or since Mr. Caron’s time. On the contrary, it is of very old date,
and took its rise, as the Japanese say, many hundred years ago, in
the times of that brave general and first secular monarch, Yoritomo,
who, apprehensive lest his soldiers, weary of his long and tedious
expeditions, and desirous to return home to their wives and children,
should desert his army, thought it much more advisable to indulge them
in this particular.”




CHAPTER XXXIV

 _Departure from Nagasaki_—_Train of the Dutch_—_The Day’s
 Journey_—_Treatment of the Dutch_—_Respect shown them in the Island
 of Shimo_—_Care with which they are watched_—_Inns at which they
 lodge_—_Their Reception and Treatment there_—_Politeness of the
 Japanese_—_Lucky and Unlucky Days_—_Seimei, the Astrologer_.


“All the princes, lords, and vassals of the Japanese empire being
obliged,” says Kämpfer, “to make their appearance at court once a year,
it hath been determined by the emperor what time and what day they
are to set out on their journey. The same is observed with regard to
the Dutch, and the fifteenth or sixteenth day of the first Japanese
month, which commonly falls in with the middle of our February, hath
been fixed for our constant departure. Towards that time we get
everything ready to set out, having first sent by sea, as already
mentioned, to the city of Shimonoseki the presents we are to make,
sorted and carefully packed, together with the other heavy baggage,
and the victuals and kitchen furniture for our future travels.
Three or four weeks after, and a few days before our departure, our
president, attended with his usual train, goes to visit the two
governors of Nagasaki, at their palaces, to take his leave of them,
and to recommend the Dutch who remain in our factory to their favor
and protection. The next day, all the goods and other things which
must be carried along with us are marked—every bale or trunk—with a
small board, whereupon is writ the possessor’s name, and the contents.
The day of our departure, all the officers of our island, and all
persons who are any ways concerned with our affairs, particularly the
future companions of our voyage, come over to Deshima early in the
morning. They are followed soon after by both governors, attended with
their whole numerous court, or else by their deputies, who come to
wish us a good journey. The governors—or their deputies—having been
entertained as usual upon this occasion, and taken their leave, are by
us accompanied out of our island, which is done commonly about nine
in the morning, at which time, also, we set out on our journey. The
_Bugiō_, or commander-in-chief, of our train, and the Dutch president,
enter their norimono. The chief interpreter, if he be old, is carried
in an ordinary kago; others mount on horseback, and the servants go
a-foot. All the Japanese officers of our island, and several friends
and acquaintances of our Japanese companions, keep us company out of
the town so far as the next inn.

“Our train is not the same in the three several parts of our journey.
Over the island Kiūshiū it may amount, with all the servants and
footmen, as also the gentlemen whom the lords of the several provinces
we pass through send to compliment us, and to keep us company during
our stay in their dominions, to about an hundred persons. In our voyage
by sea it is not much less, all the sailors and watermen taken in. In
the last part, over the great island Nippon, from Ōsaka to Yedo, it is
considerably greater, and consists of no less than an hundred and fifty
people, and this, by reason of the presents and other goods which came
from Nagasaki, as far as Ōsaka by sea, but must now be taken out and
carried by land to Yedo, by horses and men.

[Illustration: IN A JAPANESE GARDEN]

“All our heavy baggage is commonly sent away some hours before we set
out ourselves, lest it should be a hindrance to us, as, also, to give
timely notice to our landlords of our arrival. We set out early in the
morning, and, save only one hour for dinner, travel till evening, and
sometimes till late at night, making from ten to thirteen Japanese
leagues a day. In our voyage by sea we put into some harbor, and come
to an anchor every night, advancing forty Japanese water-leagues a day
at farthest.

“We are better treated, and more honorably received, in our journey
over Kiūshiū than upon the great island Nippon, though everywhere we
have much more civility shown us by the inhabitants of the cities and
districts through which we pass, than by our Nagasakian companions and
our own servants, who eat our bread and travel at our expense. In our
journey across the island Kiūshiū we receive nearly the same honors and
civility from the lords of the several provinces we pass through as
they show to travelling princes and their retinues. The roads are swept
and cleaned before us, and in cities and villages they are watered to
lay the dust. The common people, laborers, and idle spectators, who
are so very troublesome to travellers upon the great island Nippon,
are kept out of the way, and the inhabitants of the houses on either
side of the roads and streets see us go by, either sitting in the back
part of their houses, or kneeling in the fore part, behind a screen,
with great respect and in a profound silence. All the princes and lords
whose dominions we are to pass through send one of their noblemen to
compliment us, as soon as we enter upon their territories; but, as he
is not suffered to address us in person, he makes his compliment in his
master’s name to the Bugiō, or commander-in-chief of our train, and to
the chief interpreter, offering, at the same time, what houses and men
we want for us and our baggage. He likewise orders four footmen to walk
by every Dutchman’s side, and two gentlemen of some note at his court,
who are clad in black silk, with staffs in their hands, to precede the
whole train. After this manner they lead us through their master’s
territories, and, when we come to the limits thereof, the Japanese
companions of our voyage are treated with sake and sakana, and so they
take their leave. For our passage over the bays of Ōmura and Shimabara
the lords of these two places lend us their own pleasure-barges and
their own watermen besides that they furnish us with abundance of
provisions, without expecting even so much as a small present in
return for their civil and courteous behavior; and yet our thievish
interpreters never miss to lay hold of this advantage, putting this
article upon our accounts as if we had actually been at the expense;
and they commonly put the money into their own pockets. In our whole
journey from Nagasaki to Kokura, everybody we meet with shows us and
our train that deference and respect which is due only to the princes
and lords of the country. Private travellers, whether they travel on
foot or on horseback, must retire out of the way,—those who hesitate
about it being compelled to it by the officers,—and, bareheaded, humbly
bowing, wait in the next field till our whole retinue is gone by. I
took notice of some country people, who do not only retire out of the
way, but turn us their back, as not worthy to behold us,—the greatest
mark of civility a Japanese can possibly show. None, or but few, of
these public marks of honor and respect are shown us in our journey
over the great island Nippon.”

“As to what concerns our accommodation on the road, the same is—with
regard to the carriage of us and of our baggage, the number of horses
and men provided for that purpose, the inns, lodgings, eating, and
attendance—as good for our money as we could possibly desire. But,
on the other hand, if we consider the narrow compass allowed us, we
have too much reason to complain; for we are treated in a manner like
prisoners, deprived of all liberty, excepting that of looking about
the country from our horses, or out of our kago, which, indeed, it is
impossible for them to deny us. As soon as a Dutchman alights from his
horse (which is taken very ill, unless urgent necessity obliges him),
he that rides before our train, and the whole train after him, must
stop suddenly, and the Dōshin and two other attendants must come down
from their horses to take immediate care of him. Nay, they watch us to
that degree that they will not leave us alone, not even for the most
necessary occasions. The Bugiō, or commander-in-chief of our train,
studies day and night, not only the contents of his instructions, but
the journals of two or three preceding journeys, in order exactly, and
step by step, to follow the actions and behavior of his predecessors.
’Tis looked upon as the most convincing proof of his faithfulness and
good conduct still to exceed them. Nay, some of these blockheads are so
capricious that no accident whatever can oblige them to go to any other
inns but those we had been at the year before, even though we should,
upon this account, be forced in the worst weather, with the greatest
inconveniency, and at the very peril of our lives, to travel till late
at night.

“We go to the same inns which the princes and lords of the country
resort to, that is, to the very best of every place. The apartments
are at that time hung with the colors and arms of the Dutch East India
Company, and this in order to notify to the neighborhood who they be
that lodge there, as is customary in the country. We always go to the
same inns, with this difference only, that, upon our return from Yedo,
we lie at the place we dined at in going up, by this means equally to
divide the trouble, which is much greater at night than at dinner. We
always take up our lodging in the back apartment of the house, which
is by much the pleasantest; also otherwise, as has been mentioned,
reckoned the chief. The landlord observes the same customs upon our
arrival as upon the arrival of the princes and lords of the empire. He
comes out of the town or village into the fields to meet us, clad in a
kamishimo, or garment of ceremony, and wearing a short scymetar stuck
in his girdle, making his compliments with a low bow, which before
the norimono of the Bugiō and our Resident is so low, that he touches
the ground with his hands and almost with his forehead. This done, he
hastens back to his house, and receives us at the entry a second time,
in the same manner, and with the same compliments.

“As soon as we are come to the inn, our guardians and keepers carry
us forthwith across the house to our apartments. Nor, indeed, are we
so much displeased at this, since the number of spectators and the
petulant scoffing of the children, but, above all, the exhaustion of
a fatiguing journey, make us desirous to take our rest, the sooner
the better. We are, as it were, confined to our apartments, having no
other liberty but to walk out into the small garden behind the house.
All other avenues, all the doors, windows, and holes which open any
prospect towards the streets or country, are carefully shut and nailed
up, in order, as they would fain persuade us, to defend us and our
goods from thieves, but in fact to watch and guard us as thieves and
deserters. It must be owned, however, that this superabundant care and
watchfulness is considerably lessened upon our return, when we have
found means to insinuate ourselves into their favor, and by presents
and otherwise to procure their connivance.

“The Bugiō takes possession of the best apartment after ours. The
several rooms next to our own are taken up by the Dōshin, interpreters,
and other chief officers of our retinue, in order to be always near
at hand to watch our conduct, and to care that none of our landlord’s
domestics nor any other person presume to come into our apartment,
unless it be by their leave and in their presence; and in their absence
they commit this care to some of their own or our servants; though
all the companions of our voyage in general are strictly charged to
have a watchful eye over us. Those who exceed their fellow-servants in
vigilance are, by way of encouragement, permitted to make the journey
again the next year. Otherwise they stand excluded for two years.

“As soon as we have taken possession of our apartment, in comes the
landlord with some of his chief male domestics, each with a dish of
tea in his hand, which they present to every one of us with a low bow,
according to his rank and dignity, and repeating, with a submissive,
deep-fetched voice, the words, _ah! ah! ah!_ They are all clad in their
garments of ceremony, which they wear only upon great occasions, and
have each a short scymetar stuck in his girdle, which they never quit,
so long as the company stays in the house. This done, the necessary
apparatus for smoking is brought in, consisting of a board of wood or
brass, though not always of the same structure, upon which are placed
a small fire-pan with coals, a pot to spit in, a small box filled with
tobacco cut small, and some long pipes with small brass heads; as also
another japanned board, or dish, with _Sakana_,[8] that is, something
to eat, as, for instance, several sorts of fruits, figs, nuts, several
sorts of cakes, chiefly manjū, and rice cakes hot, several sorts
of roots boiled in water, sweetmeats, and other trumperies of this
kind. All these things are brought first into the Bugiō’s room, then
into ours. As to other necessaries travellers may have occasion for,
they are generally, in the case of native travellers, served by the
house-maids. These wenches also wait at table, taking that opportunity
to engage their guests to further favors. But it is quite otherwise
with us; for even the landlords themselves and their male domestics,
after they have presented us with a dish of tea, as above said, are
not suffered upon any account whatever to enter our apartments; but
whatever we want it is the sole business of our own servants to provide
us with.

“There are no other spitting-pots brought into the room but that which
comes along with the tobacco. If there be occasion for more they make
use of small pieces of bamboo, a hand broad and high, sawed from
between the joints and hollowed. The candles brought in at night are
hollow in the middle; the wick, which is of paper, being wound about
a wooden stick before the tallow is laid on. For this reason, also,
the candlesticks have a punch or bodkin at top, which the candles
are fixed upon. They burn very quick, and make a great deal of smoke
and smell, the oil or tallow being made of the berries of bay-trees,
camphor-trees, and some others of the kind. It is somewhat odd and
ridiculous to see the whirling motion of the ascending smoke followed
by the flame, when the candle is taken off the punch at the top of the
candlestick. Instead of lamps, they make use of small, flat, earthen
vessels, filled with train-oil made of the fat of whales, or of oil
made of cotton-seed. The wick is made of rush, and the abovesaid
earthen vessel stands in another filled with water, or in a square
lantern, that, in case the oil should by chance take fire, no damage
may thereupon come to the house.

“The Japanese, in their journeys, sit down to table thrice a day,
besides what they eat between meals. They begin early in the morning
and before break of day, at least before they set out, with a good,
substantial breakfast; then follows dinner at noon, and the day is
concluded with a plentiful supper at night. It being forbid to play at
cards, they sit after meals, drinking and singing some songs, to make
one another merry, or else they propose some riddles round, or play at
some other game, and he that cannot explain the riddle, or loses the
game, is obliged to drink a glass. It is again quite otherwise with us,
for we sit at table and eat our victuals very quietly. Our cloth is
laid, and the dishes dressed after the European manner, but by Japanese
cooks. We are presented, besides, by the landlord, each with a Japanese
dish. We drink European wines and the rice-beer of the country hot. All
our diversion is confined, in the daytime, to the small garden which is
behind the house; at night to the bath, in case we please to make use
of it. No other pleasure is allowed us, no manner of conversation with
the domestics, male or female, excepting what, through the connivance
of our inspectors, some of us find means to procure at night in private
and in their own rooms.

“When everything is ready for us to set out again, the landlord is
called, and our president, in presence of the two interpreters, pays
him the reckoning in gold, laid upon a small salver. He draws near, in
a creeping posture, kneeling, holding his hands down to the floor, and
when he takes the salver which the money is laid upon, he bows down
his forehead almost quite to the ground, in token of submission and
gratitude, uttering with a deep voice the words _ah! ah! ah!_ whereby
in this country inferiors show their deference and respect to their
superiors. He then prepares to make the same compliment to the other
Dutchmen; but our interpreters generally excuse him this trouble, and
make him return in the same crawling posture. Every landlord hath two
koban paid him for dinner, and three for supper and lodgings at night.
For this money he is to provide victuals enough for our whole train,
the horses, the men that look after them, and porters only excepted.
The same sum is paid to the landlords in the cities, where we stay
some days, as at Ōsaka, Miyako, and Yedo, namely, five koban a day,
without any further recompense. The reason of our being kept so cheap,
as to victuals and lodging, is because this sum was agreed on with
our landlords a long while ago, when our train was not yet so bulky
as it now is.[9] It is a custom in this country, which we likewise
observe, that guests, before they quit the inn, order their servants
to sweep the room they lodged in, not to leave any dirt, or ungrateful
dust, behind them.

[Illustration: A DAIMYŌ’S PROCESSION]

“From this reasonable behavior of the landlords, the reader may judge
of the civility of the whole nation in general, always excepting our
own officers and servants. I must own that, in the visits we made or
received in our journey, we found the same to be greater than could be
expected from the most civilized nations. The behavior of the Japanese,
from the meanest countryman up to the greatest prince or lord, is
such that the whole empire might be called a school of civility and
good manners. They have so much sense and innate curiosity, that,
if they were not absolutely denied a free and open conversation and
correspondence with foreigners, they would receive them with the
utmost kindness and pleasure. In some towns and villages only we took
notice that the young boys, who are childish all over the world, would
run after us, calling us names, and cracking some malicious jests or
other, levelled at the Chinese, whom they take us to be. One of the
most common, and not much different from a like sort of a compliment
which is commonly made to Jews in Germany, is _Tōjin baibai?_ which, in
broken Chinese, signifies, _Chinese, have ye nothing to truck?_

“It may not be amiss to observe, that it is not an indifferent matter
to travellers in this country what day they set out on their journey;
for they must choose for their departure a fortunate day, for which
purpose they make use of a particular table, printed in all their
road-books, which they say hath been observed to hold true by a
continued experience of many ages, and wherein are set down all the
unfortunate days of every month. However, the most sensible of the
Japanese have but little regard for this superstitious table, which is
more credited by the common people, the mountain priests, and monks.

“To give the more authority to this table, they say that it was
invented by the astrologer Seimei, a man of great quality and very
eminent in his art. King _Abeno Tashima_ was his father, and a fox
his mother, to whom Abeno Tashima was married upon the following
occasion. He once happened with a servant of his to be in the temple
of Inari, who is the god and protector of the foxes. Meanwhile some
courtiers were hunting the fox without doors, in order to make use of
the lungs for the preparation of a certain medicine. It happened upon
this that a young fox, pursued by the hunters, fled into the temple,
which stood open, and took shelter in the very bosom of Tashima. The
king, unwilling to deliver up the poor creature to the unmerciful
hunters, was forced to defend himself and his fox, and to repel force
by force, wherein he behaved himself with so much bravery and success
that, having defeated the hunters, he set the fox at liberty. The
hunters, ashamed and highly offended at the courageous behavior of
the king, seized, in the height of their resentment, an opportunity
which offered to kill his royal father. Tashima mustered up all his
courage and prudence to revenge his father’s death, and with so much
success that he killed the traitors with his own hands. The fox, to
return his gratitude, appeared to him, after the victory which he
obtained over the murderers of his father, in the shape of a lady of
incomparable beauty, and so fired his breast with love that he took
her to his wife. It was by her he had this son, who was endowed with
divine wisdom, and the precious gift of prognosticating and foretelling
things to come. Nor did he know that his wife had been that very fox
whose life he saved with so much courage in the temple of Inari, till,
soon after, her tail and other parts beginning to grow, she resumed by
degrees her former shape.[10]

“Seimei not only calculated the above table by the knowledge he had
acquired of the motion and influence of the stars, but, as he was at
the same time a perfect master of the cabalistic sciences, he found
out certain words which he brought together into an _Uta_, or verse,
the repetition of which is believed to have the infallible virtue of
keeping off all those misfortunes which, upon the days determined in
the table to be unfortunate, would otherwise befall travellers,—this
verse being for the use and satisfaction of poor ordinary servants, who
have not leisure to accommodate themselves to the table, but must go
when and wherever they are sent by their masters.”




CHAPTER XXXV

 _From Nagasaki to Kokura—Shimonoseki—Water Journey to
 Ōsaka—Description of that City—Its Castle—Interview with the
 Governors—From Ōsaka to Miyako—Jodo and its Castle—Fushimi—Entrance
 into Miyako—Visit to the Chief Justice and the Governors—Description
 of Miyako—Palace of the Dairi—Castle—Manufactures and Trade—Authority
 of the Chief Justice—Police—Crimes._


At coming out of Nagasaki, on his first journey to court (Tuesday,
February 13, 1691), Kämpfer noticed the idol Jizō, the god of the roads
and protector of travellers, hewn out of the rock in nine different
places. At the next village stood another of the same sort, about three
feet in height, on a stone pillar twice as high, and adorned with
flowers. Two other smaller stone pillars, hollow at top, stood before
the idol, upon which were placed lamps, for travellers to light in its
honor; and at some distance stood a basin of water, in which to wash
the hands before lighting the lamps.

The first twelve miles’ travelling, which was very steep and
mountainous, brought the company to the shores of the bay of Ōmura,
which they found too shallow for vessels of size; but by crossing it
in boats, furnished by the prince of Ōmura, each rowed by fourteen
watermen, they saved a distance of ten miles or more. The distance
across was thirty miles. The town of Ōmura was seen on the right at the
head of the bay, and beyond it a smoking mountain. The shells of this
bay were reported to yield pearls.[11]

The second day (Wednesday, February 14) they passed an old
camphor-tree, estimated to be thirty-six feet in circumference, and
hollow within.[12] At Shiwota, where they dined, a seaport on the
gulf of Shimabara, was a manufactory of large earthen pots, used by
vessels as water-cakes, and also of china ware, made of a whitish,
fat clay, abundant in that neighborhood. The same day they visited a
hot spring, much frequented for its medicinal effects, and provided
with accommodations for bathing. There are several others in the
neighborhood.[13]

Saga, the capital of the province of Hizen, through which they passed
the next day (Thursday, February 15), without stopping, was found to
be a considerable place, situated not far from the western border of
the province, near the head of the bay of Shimabara. “The city,” says
Kämpfer, “is very large, but extends more in length than in breadth.
It is exceedingly populous. Both going in and coming out we found
strong guards at the gates. It is enclosed with walls, but more for
state than defence. The prince or petty king of this province resides
here in a large castle, which commands the city. The streets are
large, with streams of water flowing through them. The houses are but
sorry and low, and in the chief streets fitted up for manufacturers
and shopkeepers. The inhabitants are very short, but well shaped,
particularly the women, who are handsomer, I think, than in any other
Asiatic country, but so much painted that one would be apt to take them
for wax figures rather than living creatures. Many were noticed who
seemed little more than girls, yet evidently the mothers of several
children. These women of Hizen have the reputation of being the
handsomest in Japan, next to those of Miyako. This province, though
less wealthy than that of Satsuma, is reputed to be about the most
fertile in all Japan, being particularly famous for its rice, of which
it produces ten different sorts or qualities, one of which is reserved
for the special use of the emperor. The rice-fields were observed to be
bordered with tea-shrubs about six feet high; but as they were stripped
of their leaves, they made but a naked and sorry appearance.”

In the afternoon our travellers passed into the province of Chikugo,
and having traversed a small but very pleasant wood of firs,—a rare
sight in the flat parts of the country,—they saw at a distance the
castle of Kurume, the residence of the prince of the province.[14]
Friday, February 16, mountains were encountered, which they passed in
kago, as the road was too steep for horseback-riding. This country,
forming a part of the province of Chikuzen, struck Kämpfer as not
unlike some mountainous and woody parts of Germany, but no cattle were
seen grazing, except a few cows and horses for carriage and ploughing.
The people were less handsome than those of Hizen, but extremely civil.

The next day (February 17), after passing, in the afternoon, some
coal-mines, whence the neighborhood was supplied with fuel, they
reached Kokura, capital of the province of Buzen, once a large town,
but now much decayed. It had a large castle of freestone, with a
few cannon and a tower of six stories, the usual sign of princely
residences. A river passed through the town, crossed by a bridge near
two hundred yards long, but it was too shallow to admit vessels of any
size. At least one hundred small boats were drawn up on the banks. On
leaving their inn where they had stopped to dine, the Dutch found the
square in front of it, as well as the bridge, crowded with upwards of
a thousand spectators, chiefly ordinary people, who had collected to
see them, and who knelt in profound silence, without motion or noise.
The distance of this place from Nagasaki was reckoned at fifty-five
Japanese miles, and had consumed five days.

[Illustration: IMAGE OF JIZŌ]

Embarking in boats, the Dutch travellers crossed the strait which
separates Shimo from Nippon, narrower here than anywhere else, less
than three miles wide, though the town of Shimonoseki, which gives its
name to the strait, being situated at the bottom of an inlet, is
near twelve miles from Kokura. This town, in the province of Nagato,
consisted of four or five hundred houses, built chiefly on both sides
of one long street, with a few smaller ones terminating in it. It is
full of shops for selling provisions and stores to the ships, which
daily put in for shelter or supplies, and of which not less than two
hundred were seen at anchor. It also had a temple to Amida, built
to appease the ghost of a young prince of the family of Heishi, so
celebrated in the legendary annals of the Japanese, whose nurse, with
the boy in her arms, is said to have thrown herself headlong into the
strait to avoid capture by his father’s enemies, at the time of the
ruin of that family.

The voyage from Shimonoseki to Ōsaka was reckoned at one hundred and
thirty-four Japanese water-miles, and was made in six days, the vessel
coming to anchor every night in good harbors, with which the coast
abounds. This voyage lay first through the strait between Shimo and
Nippon, and then through the strait or sea between Nippon and Shikoku,
which was full of islands, some cultivated, others mere rocks. On the
main land on either side snow-covered mountains were visible. The barge
could proceed no further than Hyōgo, a city of the province Settsu,
nearly as large as Nagasaki. Here the company embarked in small boats
for Ōsaka. As they passed along they saw at a distance the imperial
city of Sakai, three or four Japanese miles south from Ōsaka. The
description of Ōsaka, and of the journey thence to Miyako, is thus
given by Kämpfer:

“Ōsaka, one of the five imperial cities, is agreeably seated in
the province of Settsu, in a fruitful plain, and on the banks of a
navigable river. At the east end is a strong castle; and at the western
end, two strong, stately guard-houses, which separate it from its
suburbs. Its length from these suburbs to the above-mentioned castle
is between three and four thousand yards. Its breadth is somewhat
less. The river Yodogawa runs on the north side, and below the city
falls into the sea. This river rises a day and a half’s journey to
the northeast, out of a midland lake in the province of Ōmi, which,
according to Japanese histories, arose in one night, that spot which it
now fills being sunk in a violent earthquake. Coming out of this lake,
it runs by the small towns Uji and Yodo, from which latter it borrows
its name, and so continues down to Ōsaka. About a mile before it comes
to this city, it sends off one of its arms straight to the sea. This
want, if any, is supplied by two other rivers, both which flow into it
just above the city, on the north side of the castle, where there are
stately bridges over them. The united stream having washed one third
of the city, part of its waters are conveyed through a broad canal to
supply the south part, which is also the larger, and that where the
richest inhabitants live. For this purpose several smaller channels
cut from the large one, pass through some of the chief streets, deep
enough to be navigable for small boats, which bring goods to the
merchant’s doors—though some are muddy, and not too clean, for want of
a sufficient quantity and run of water. Upwards of an hundred bridges,
many extraordinarily beautiful, are built over them.

“A little below the coming out of the above-mentioned canal another arm
arises on the north side of the great stream, which is shallow and not
navigable, but runs down westward, with great rapidity, till it loses
itself in the sea. The middle and great stream still continues its
course through the city, at the lower end whereof it turns westward,
and having supplied the suburbs and villages which lie without the
city, by many lateral branches, at last loses itself in the sea through
several mouths. This river is narrow, indeed, but deep and navigable.
From its mouth up as far as Ōsaka, and higher, there are seldom less
than a thousand boats going up and down, some with merchants, others
with the princes and lords who live to the west, on their way to and
from Yedo. The banks are raised on both sides into ten or more steps,
coarsely hewn of freestone, so that they look like one continued
stairs, and one may land wherever he pleases. Stately bridges are laid
over the river at every three or four hundred paces’ distance. They are
built of cedar wood, and are railed on both sides, some of the rails
being adorned at top with brass buttons. I counted in all ten such
bridges, three whereof were particularly remarkable, because of their
length, being laid over the great arm of the river where it is broadest.

“The streets, in the main, are narrow but regular, cutting each other
at right angles. From this regularity, however, we must except that
part of the city which lies towards the sea, because the streets
there run along the several branches of the river. The streets are
very neat, though not paved. However, for the conveniency of walking,
there is a small pavement of square stones along the houses on each
side of the street. At the end of every street are strong gates, which
are shut at night, when nobody is suffered to pass from one street to
another without special leave and a passport from the Otona, or street
officer. There is also in every street a place railed in, where they
keep all the necessary instruments in case of fire. Not far from it is
a covered well, for the same purpose. The houses are, according to
the custom of the country, not above two stories high, each story of
nine or twelve feet. They are built of wood, lime, and clay. The front
offers to the spectator’s eye the door, and a shop where the merchants
sell their goods, or else an open room where artificers, openly and
in everybody’s sight, exercise their trade. From the upper end of the
shop or room hangs down a piece of black cloth, partly for ornament,
partly to defend them in some measure from the wind and weather. At the
same place hang some fine patterns of what is sold in the shop. The
roof is flat, and in good houses covered with black tiles laid in lime.
The roofs of ordinary houses are covered only with shavings of wood.
Within doors all the houses are kept clean and neat to admiration. The
staircases, rails, and all the wainscoting, are varnished. The floors
are covered with neat mats. The rooms are separated from each other by
screens, upon removal of which several small rooms may be enlarged into
one, or the contrary done if needful. The walls are hung with shining
paper, curiously painted with gold and silver flowers. The upper part
of the wall, for some inches down from the ceiling, is commonly left
empty, and only clayed with an orange-colored clay, which is dug up
about this city, and is, because of its beautiful color, exported into
other provinces. The mats, doors, and screens are all of the same size,
six Japanese feet long and three broad. The houses themselves, and
their several rooms, are built proportionably according to a certain
number of mats, more or less. There is commonly a curious garden behind
the house, such as I have described elsewhere. Behind the garden is
the bathing-stove, and sometimes a vault, or rather a small room,
with strong walls of clay and lime, to preserve, in case of fire, the
richest household goods and furniture.

“Ōsaka is extremely populous, and if we believe what the boasting
Japanese tell us, can raise an army of eighty thousand men from
among its inhabitants. It is the best trading town in Japan, being
extraordinarily well situated for carrying on a commerce both by
land and water. This is the reason why it is so well inhabited by
rich merchants, artificers and manufacturers. Provisions are cheap,
notwithstanding the city is so well peopled. Whatever tends to promote
luxury, and to gratify all sensual pleasures, may be had at as easy a
rate here as anywhere, and for this reason the Japanese call Ōsaka the
universal theatre of pleasures and diversions. Plays are to be seen
daily, both in public and in private houses. Mountebanks, jugglers, who
can show some artful tricks, and all the raree-show people who have
either some uncommon, or monstrous animal to exhibit, or animals taught
to play tricks, resort thither from all parts of the empire, being
sure to get a better penny here than anywhere else.[15] Hence it is no
wonder that numbers of strangers and travellers daily resort thither,
chiefly rich people, as to a place where they can spend their time
and money with much greater satisfaction than perhaps anywhere else
in the empire. The western princes and lords on this side Ōsaka all
have houses in this city, and people to attend them in their passage
through, and yet they are not permitted to stay longer than a night,
besides that upon their departure they are obliged to follow a road
entirely out of sight of the castle.

“The water which is drank at Ōsaka tastes a little brackish; but
in lieu of thereof they have the best sake in the empire, which is
brewed in great quantities in the neighboring village, Tennōji, and
from thence exported into most other provinces, nay, by the Dutch and
Chinese, out of the country.

“On the east side of the city, in a large plain, lies the famous castle
built by Taikō-Sama [Toyotomi Hideyoshi]. Going up to Miyako we pass
by it. It is square, about an hour’s walking in circumference, and
strongly fortified with round bastions, according to the military
architecture of the country. After the castle of Higo, it hath not its
superior in extent, magnificence, and strength, throughout the whole
empire. On the north side it is defended by the river Yodogawa, which
washes its walls. On the east side its walls are washed by a tributary
river, on the opposite bank of which lies a great garden belonging to
the castle. The south and west sides border upon the city. The moles,
or buttresses, which support the outward wall, are of an uncommon
bigness, I believe at least forty-two feet thick. They are built to
support a high, strong brick wall, lined with freestone, which at its
upper end is planted with a row of firs or cedars.

“The day after our arrival (Sunday, February 25) we were admitted to
an audience of the governor of the city, to which we were carried in
kago, attended by our whole train of interpreters and other officers.
It is half an hour’s walking from our inn to the governor’s palace,
which lies at the end of the city in a square opposite the castle. Just
before the house we stepped out of our kago, and put on each a silk
cloak, which is reckoned equal to the garment of ceremony which the
Japanese wear on these occasions. Through a passage thirty paces long
we came into the hall, or guard-house, where we were received by two
of the governor’s gentlemen, who very civilly desired us to sit down.
Four soldiers stood upon duty on our left as we came in, and next to
them we found eight other officers of the governor’s court, all sitting
upon their knees and ankles. The wall on our right was hung with
arms, ranged in a proper order, fifteen halberds on one side, twenty
lances in the middle, and nineteen pikes on the other; the latter were
adorned at the upper end with fringes. Hence we were conducted by two
of the governor’s secretaries through four rooms (which, however, upon
removing the screens, might have been enlarged into one) into the hall
of audience. I took notice, as we came by, that the walls were hung
and adorned with bows, with sabres and scymitars, as also with some
fire-arms, kept in rich black varnished cases.

“In the hall of audience, where there were seven of the governor’s
gentlemen sitting, the two secretaries sat down at three paces’
distance from us, and treated us with tea, carrying on a very civil
conversation with us till the governor appeared, as he soon did, with
two of his sons, one seventeen, the other eighteen years of age, and
sat down at ten paces’ distance in another room, which was laid open
towards the hall of audience by removing three lattices, through which
he spoke to us.

“He seemed to be about forty years of age, middle-sized, strong,
active, of a manly countenance and broad-faced; very civil in his
conversation, and speaking with a great deal of softness and modesty.
He was but meanly clad in black, and wore a gray garment of ceremony
over his dress. He wore, also, but one ordinary scymitar. His
conversation turned chiefly upon the following points: That the weather
was now very cold; that we had made a very great journey; that it was a
singular favor to be admitted into the emperor’s presence; that, of all
nations in the world, only the Dutch were allowed this honor.

“He promised us that, since the chief justice of Miyako, whose business
it is to give us the necessary passports for our journey to court,
was not yet returned from Yedo, he would give us his own passports,
which would be full as valid, and that we might send for them the next
morning. He also assured us that he was very willing to assist us with
horses and whatever else we might stand in need of for continuing our
journey.

[Illustration: AN ANCIENT WARRIOR]

“On our side, we returned him thanks for his kind offers, and desired
that he would be pleased to accept of a small present, consisting of
some pieces of silk stuffs, as an acknowledgment of our gratitude.
We also made some presents to the two secretaries or stewards of his
household; and, having taken our leave, were by them conducted back
to the guard-house. Here we took our leave also of them, and returned
through the above-mentioned passage back to our kago. Our interpreters
permitted us to walk a little way, which gave us an opportunity to view
the outside of the above-described famous castle. We then entered
our kago and were carried back through another long street to our inn.

“Wednesday, February 28, we set out by break of day on our journey
to Miyako, because we intended to reach that place the same day, it
being but thirteen Japanese miles, or a good day’s journey, distant
from Ōsaka, out of which we came by the Kyōbashi, or bridge to Miyako,
which crosses the river just below the castle. We then travelled about
a mile through muddy rice-fields riding along a low dike raised on the
banks of the river Yodogawa, which we had on our left. Multitudes of
Tsadanil (?) trees, which grow as tall in this country as oaks do with
us, were planted along it. It had then no leaves, because of the winter
season, but its branches hung full of a yellow fruit, out of which the
natives prepare an oil. The country hereabouts is extraordinarily well
inhabited, and the many villages along the road are so near each other
that there wants little towards making it one continued street from
Ōsaka to Miyako.

“The small but famous city, Yodo, is entirely enclosed with water, and
hath besides several canals cut through the town, all derived from the
arms of the river which encompasses it. The suburbs consist of one
long street, across which we rode to a stately wooden bridge, called
Yodobashi, four hundred paces long, and supported by forty arches, to
which answer so many ballisters, adorned at the upper end with brass
buttons. At the end of this bridge is a single well-guarded gate,
through which we entered the city. The city itself is very pleasant and
agreeably situated, and hath very good houses, though but few streets,
which cut each other at right angles, running some south, some east.
Abundance of artificers and handicraftsmen live at Yodo. On the west
side lies the castle, built of brick, in the middle of the river, with
stately towers several stories high at each corner, and in the middle
of its walls. Coming out of Yodo, we again passed over a bridge two
hundred paces long, supported by twenty arches, which brought us into a
suburb, at the end of which was a strong guard-house.

“After about two hours’ riding we came, at two in the afternoon, to
Fushimi. This is a small, open town, or rather village, of a few
streets, of which the middle and chief reaches as far as Miyako, and is
contiguous to the streets of that capital, insomuch that Fushimi might
be called the suburbs of Miyako, the rather since this last city is not
at all enclosed with walls. It was to-day Tsuitachi with the Japanese,
that is, the first day of the month, which they keep as a Sunday or
holiday, visiting the temples, walking into the fields, and following
all manner of diversions. Accordingly we found this street, along
which we rode for full four hours before we got to our inn, crowded
with multitudes of the inhabitants of Miyako, walking out of the city
to take the air, and to visit the neighboring temples. Particularly
the women were all on this occasion richly apparelled in variously
colored gowns, wearing a purple-colored silk about the forehead, and
large straw hats to defend themselves from the heat of the sun. We
likewise met some particular sorts of beggars, comically clad, and some
masked in a very ridiculous manner. Not a few walked upon iron stilts;
others carried large pots with green trees upon their heads; some were
singing, some whistling, some fluting, others beating of bells. All
along the street we saw multitudes of open shops, jugglers and players
diverting the crowd.

“The temples which we had on our right as we went up, built in the
ascent of the neighboring green hills, were illuminated with many
lamps, and the priests, beating some bells with iron hammers, made
such a noise as could be heard at a considerable distance. I took
notice of a large, white dog, perhaps made of plaster, which stood
upon an altar on our left, in a neatly-adorned chapel or small temple,
which was consecrated to the Patron of the dogs. We reached our inn at
Miyako at six in the evening, and were forthwith carried up one pair
of stairs into our apartments, which in some measure, I thought, might
be compared to the Westphalian smoking rooms, wherein they smoke their
beef and bacon.

“We had travelled to-day through a very fruitful country, mostly
through rice-fields, wherein we saw great flocks of wild ducks, if they
deserve to be so called, being so very tame that no travelling company
approaching will fright them away. We took notice also of several
large, white herons, some swans, and some few storks, looking for their
food in the morassy fields. We likewise saw the peasants ploughing with
black oxen, which seemed to be lean, poor beasts, but are said to work
well.

“February 29, early in the morning, we sent the presents for the
chief justice and the governors to their palaces, laid, according to
the country fashion, upon particular small tables made of fir, and
kept for no other use but this. We followed soon after, about ten
in the forenoon, in kago. Their palaces were at the west end of the
city, opposite the castle of the Dairi. We were conducted through
a court-yard, twenty paces broad, into the hall or fore-room of
the house, which is called _Ban_, or the chief guard, and is the
rendezvous of numbers of clerks, inspectors, etc. Hence we were taken,
through two other rooms, into a third, where they desired us to sit
down. Soon after came in his lordship’s steward, an old gentleman who
seemed upwards of sixty years of age, clad in a gray or ash-colored
honor-gown, who seated himself at about four paces from us, in order to
receive, in his master’s name, both our compliments and presents, which
stood in the same room, laid out in a becoming order. They consisted of
a flask of Tent wine, besides twenty pieces of silk, woollen, and linen
stuffs. The steward having very civilly returned us thanks for our
presents, boxes with tobacco and pipes and proper utensils for smoking
were set before us, and a dish of tea was presented to each of us by a
servant, at three different times, the steward and the chief gentlemen
pressing us to drink. Having stayed about a quarter of an hour, we took
our leave, and were conducted by the steward himself to the door of
their room, and thence by other officers back to the gate.

“This first visit being over, we walked thence on foot to the palace
of the commanding governor, who was but lately arrived from Yedo. Some
sentinels stood upon duty at the gate, and in the _ban_, or hall, we
found very near fifty people besides some young boys, neatly clad, all
sitting in very good order. Through this hall we were conducted into a
side apartment, where we were civilly received by the two secretaries,
both elderly men, and were treated with tea, sugar, etc.; receiving,
also, repeated assurances that we should be soon admitted into the
governor’s presence.

“Having stayed full half an hour in this room, we were conducted into
another, where, after a little while, the lattices of two screens
being suddenly opened just over against us, the governor appeared,
sitting at fourteen paces distant. He wore, as usual, a garment of
ceremony over his black dress. He seemed to be about thirty-six years
of age, of a strong, lusty constitution, and showed in his countenance
and whole behavior a good deal of pride and vanity. After a short
conversation we desired that he would be pleased to accept of our small
present, consisting of twelve pieces of stuffs, which lay upon a table,
or salver, in the manner above described. He thereupon bowed a little,
to return us thanks, and putting himself in a rising posture, the two
lattices were let down forthwith, in a very comical manner. But we were
desired to stay a little while longer, that the ladies—who were in a
neighboring room, behind a paper screen pierced with holes—might have
an opportunity of contemplating us and our foreign dress. Our president
was desired to show them his hat, sword, watch, and several other
things he had about him, as also to take off his cloak, that they might
have a full view of his dress, both before and behind. Having stayed
about an hour in the house of this governor, we were conducted by the
two secretaries back to the hall, or chief guard, and thence by two
inferior officers into the yard.

“It being fair weather, we resolved to walk on foot to the house of
the other governor, some hundred paces distant. We were received there
much after the manner above described. After we had been treated in
the _ban_ with tea and tobacco, as usual, we were conducted, through
several rooms, into the hall of audience, which was richly furnished,
and, amongst other things, adorned with a cabinet filled with bows and
arrows, small fire-arms, guns and pistols, kept in black varnished
cases. These, and other arms, we took notice, were hung up in several
other rooms through which we passed, much after the same manner as in
the governor’s house at Ōsaka. On one side the hall we took notice of
two screens, pierced with holes, behind which sat some women, whom
the curiosity of seeing people from so remote a part of the world had
drawn thither. We had scarce sat down, when the governor appeared, and
sat himself down at ten paces from us. He was clad in black, as usual,
with a garment of ceremony. He was a gray man, almost sixty years of
age, but of a good complexion, and very handsome. He bade us welcome,
showed in his whole behavior a great deal of civility, and received
our presents kindly, and with seeming great satisfaction. Our chief
interpreter took this opportunity to make the governor, as his old
acquaintance, some private presents in his own name, consisting of
some European glasses, and, in the mean time, to beg a favor for his
deputy’s interpreter’s son. Having taken our leave, we returned to our
kago, and were carried home to our inn, where we arrived at one in the
afternoon.

“Kiō, or Miyako, signifies in Japanese, a city. (Klaproth says, great
temple or palace.) It lies in the province Yamato[16] in a large plain,
and is, from north to south, three English miles long, and two broad
from east to west, surrounded with pleasant green hills and mountains,
from which arise numbers of small rivers and agreeable streams. The
city comes nearest the mountains on the east side, where there are
numerous temples, monasteries, chapels, and other religious buildings,
standing in the ascent. Three shallow rivers enter, or run by it, on
that side. The chief and largest comes out of the Lake Ōtsu;[17] the
other two from the neighboring mountains. They come together about
the middle of the city, where the united stream is crossed by a large
bridge, two hundred paces long. The Dairi, with his family and court,
resides on the north side of the city, in a particular part or ward,
consisting of twelve or thirteen streets, separated from the rest by
walls and ditches. In the western part of the town is a strong castle
of freestone, built by one of the hereditary emperors, for the security
of his person during the civil wars. At present it serves to lodge
the Kubō, or actual monarch, when he comes to visit the Dairi. It is
upwards of a thousand feet long where longest; a deep ditch, filled
with water, and walled in, surrounds it, and is enclosed itself by a
broad empty space, or dry ditch. In the middle of this castle there is,
as usual, a square tower, several stories high. In the ditch are kept a
particular sort of delicious carps, some of which were presented this
evening to our interpreter. A small garrison guards the castle, under
the command of a captain.

“The streets of Miyako are narrow, but all regular, running some south,
some east. Being at one end of a great street, it is impossible to
reach the other with the eye, because of their extraordinary length,
the dust, and the multitude of people. The houses are, generally
speaking, narrow, only two stories high, built of wood, lime, and clay,
according to the country fashion.

“Miyako is the great magazine of all Japanese manufactures and
commodities, and the chief mercantile town in the empire. There is
scarce a house in this large capital where there is not something made
or sold. Here they refine copper, coin money, print books, weave the
richest stuffs, with gold and silver flowers. The best and scarcest
dyes, the most artful carvings, all sorts of musical instruments,
pictures, japanned cabinets, all sorts of things wrought in gold and
other metals, particularly in steel, as the best tempered blades, and
other arms, are made here in the utmost perfection, as are, also,
the richest dresses, and after the best fashion, all sorts of toys,
puppets, moving their heads of themselves, and, in short, there is
nothing can be thought of but what may be found at Miyako, and nothing,
though never so neatly wrought, can be imported from abroad, but what
some artist or other in this capital will undertake to imitate it.
Considering this, it is no wonder that the manufactures of Miyako are
become so famous throughout the empire as to be easily preferred to all
others (though, perhaps, inferior in some particulars), only because
they have the name of being made there. There are but few houses in all
the chief streets where there is not something to be sold, and, for my
part, I could not help admiring whence they can have customers enough
for such an immense quantity of goods. ’Tis true, indeed, there is
scarce anybody passes through but what buys something or other of the
manufactures of this city, either for his own use, or for presents to
be made to his friends and relations.

[Illustration: AN ARCHER]

“The lord chief justice resides at Miyako, a man of great power and
authority, as having the supreme command, under the emperor, of all
the bugiō, governors, stewards, and other officers, who are any ways
concerned in the government of the imperial cities, crown lands and
tenements, in all the western provinces of the empire. Even the western
princes themselves must, in some measure, depend on him, and have a
great regard to his person as a mediator and compounder of quarrels and
difficulties that may arise between them. Nobody is suffered to pass
through Arai and Hakone, two of the most important passes, and, in a
manner, the keys of the imperial capital and court, without a passport,
signed by his hand.

“The political government and regulation of the streets is the same
at Miyako as it is at Ōsaka and Nagasaki. The number of inhabitants
of Miyako, in the year of our visit, will appear by the following
_Aratame_[18] (exclusive, however, of those who live in the castle and
at the Dairi’s court).”

  Negi (persons attending the Shintō temples)                      9,003

  Yamabushi (mountain priests)                                     6,073

  Shukke (ecclesiastics of the Buddhist religion)                 37,093

  Buddhist laymen, of four principal and eight
    inferior sects or observances[19]                            477,557

  Tera (Buddhist temples)                                          3,893

  Miya (Shintō temples)                                            2,127

  Shokoku Daimyō Yashiki (palaces and houses
    of the princes and lords of the empire)                          137

  Machi (streets)                                                  1,858

  Ken (houses)                                                   138,979

  Hashi (bridges)                                                     87




CHAPTER XXXVI

 _Lake Ōtsu—Mount Hiei[zan]—Japanese Legends—A Japanese Patent
 Medicine—Kwannon—Miya—Arai—Policy of the Emperors—Kakegawa—A
 Town on Fire—Suruga—Kunō—Passage of a Rapid River—Fuji-no-jama,
 or Mount Fuji—Crossing the Peninsula of Izu—Second Searching
 Place—Purgatory Lake—Odawara—Coast of the Bay of Yedo—A Live
 Saint—Kanagawa—Shinagawa—Yedo—Imperial Castles and Palace._


Kämpfer and his company left Miyako Friday, March 2, and, after a
journey of eight or nine miles, during which they saw a high mountain
towards the south, covered with snow, they reached Ōtsu, a town of a
thousand houses, where they lodged. This town lies at the southwestern
extremity of the large fresh-water lake of the same name, already
mentioned.[20]

On the southeastern shore of this lake, which abounds with fish and
fowl, lies the famous mountain Hieizan (by interpretation Fair-hill),
covered with Buddhist monasteries, and near it were seen other
mountains, covered with snow, and extending along the lake shore.
Shortly after leaving Ōtsu, the Yodogawa, one of the outlets of the
lake, was crossed upon a bridge, supported at the extremities by stone
columns, of which the following legend is told. These columns were
in old times possessed by an evil spirit, which very much molested
travellers, as well as the inhabitants of the village. It happened one
day that the famous saint and apostle, Kōshi,[21] travelling that way,
all the people of the neighborhood earnestly entreated him to deliver
them by his miraculous power from this insufferable evil, and to cast
this devil out of the columns. The Japanese, a people superstitious to
excess, expected that he would use a good many prayers and ceremonies,
but found, to their utmost surprise, that he only took off the dirty
cloth which he wore about his waist, and tied it about the column.
Perceiving how much they were amazed, Kōshi addressed them in these
words: “Friends,” said he, “it is in vain you expect that I should
make use of many ceremonies. Ceremonies will never cast out devils;
faith must do it, and it is only by faith that I perform miracles.”
“A remarkable saying,” exclaims Kämpfer, “in the mouth of a heathen
teacher!”

Umenoki, a village through which they next passed, was famous for the
sole manufacture of a medicine of great repute, found out by a poor
but pious man, to whom the god Yakushi, the protector of physic and
physicians, revealed in a dream the ingredients, which are certain
bitter herbs growing upon the neighboring mountains. This story helped
the sale of the medicine, by which the inventor soon grew very rich, so
that he was not only able to build a fine house for himself but also a
small temple, opposite his shop, and highly adorned, in honor of the
god who had given him the receipt, whose statue, richly gilt, was to be
seen there, standing on a _Tarate_ [?] flower, and with half a large
cockle-shell over his head.

The next day (Sunday, March 4) the Dutch travellers crossed the Tsuchi
Yama, a mountain ridge, so steep that its descent was like that of
a winding staircase cut out in the face of the precipice. On this
mountain were many temples, and in this neighborhood vast crowds of
pilgrims were encountered, bound to Ise, situate some forty miles to
the south. The travellers struck the seacoast at Yokkaichi, a town of
a thousand houses, whose inhabitants were partly supported by fishing,
and the next day (Monday, the 5th), after about nine miles’ travel,
they entered the city of Kuwana, in the province of Owari, situated
at the head of a deep bay. It consisted of three parts, like so many
different towns. The first and third parts were enclosed by high walls
and ditches. The other part was entirely surrounded by water, the
country being flat and full of rivers. The castle, washed on three
sides by the sea, was separated from the town by a deep ditch with
draw-bridges.

From Kuwana they proceeded by water to Miya, present Atsuta, some
fifteen miles distant. The head of the bay was very shallow, and the
boats were pushed through mud-banks. Miya, though not so large as
Kuwana, consisted of two thousand houses, with two spacious castles,
one of them for size and strength reckoned the third in Japan. There
were two temples, in one of which are preserved three, in the other
eight, miraculous swords, used by the race of demigods who were the
first inhabitants of Japan.

Tuesday, March 6, the travellers dined at Okasaki, a town of fifteen
hundred houses, with a strong castle situate on the shores of the same
bay. The country travelled through was a fertile plain along the foot
of a range of mountains, the shores of which, beyond Okasaki, extended
to the sea.

The next day (Wednesday, March 7) they passed through several
considerable places, of which Yoshida, present Toyohashi, with a castle
and about a thousand small houses, was the most considerable. Arai,
twelve or fifteen miles distant, was a town of about four hundred
houses, situate not far from the sea, at the inland extremity of a
harbor called Sao, narrow at its entrance, but spreading out within.
Arai was the seat of certain imperial commissioners appointed to
search the goods and baggage of all travellers, but particularly of
the princes of the empire, that no women nor arms might pass. “This,”
says Kämpfer, “is one of the political maxims which the now reigning
emperors have found it necessary to practise in order to secure to
themselves the peaceable possession of the throne; for the wives and
female children of all the princes of the empire are kept at Yedo, as
hostages of the fidelity of their husbands and parents. And as to the
exportation of arms, an effectual stop has been put to that, lest, if
exported in any considerable quantities, some of those princes might
take it into their heads to raise rebellions against the government as
now established.”

The harbor of Sao was crossed in boats, on the other side of which the
road led through a flat country, rather thinly inhabited. They slept
that night at Hamamatsu, a town of several hundred inferior houses,
with a large castle. The next day (Thursday, March 8), travelling on
through a beautiful plain, in the afternoon they reached the town
of Kakegawa; as they were passing through which, a fire broke out,
occasioned by the boiling over of an oil kettle. Perceiving only a
thick cloud behind them, they thought a storm was coming on, but were
soon involved in such a cloud of smoke and heat as to be obliged to
ride on at a gallop. Having reached a little eminence, on looking back,
the whole town seemed on fire. Nothing appeared through the smoke and
flames but the upper part of the castle tower. They found, however, on
their return, some weeks after, that the damage was less than they had
expected, more than half the town having escaped.

It was necessary, shortly after, for the travellers to take kago to
cross a steep mountain, descending from which they were obliged to
ford the river Ōigawa, proverbial throughout Japan for its force and
rapidity and the rolling stones in its bed, but just then at a very
low stage. The road thence to Shimada, a small town where they lodged,
was close to the sea, but through a barren country, the mountains
approaching close to the shore.

The next day (Friday, March 9) brought them, most of the way through
a flat, well-cultivated country, to the city of Suruga, capital of
the province of that name. The streets, broad and regular, crossed
each other at right angles, and were full of well-furnished shops.
Paper stuffs, curiously flowered, for hats, baskets, boxes, etc., also
various manufactures of split and twisted reeds, and all sorts of
lackered ware, were made here. There was also a mint here, as well as
at Miyako and Yedo, where koban and ichibu were coined. It had a castle
of freestone, well defended with ditches and high walls.

A few miles from Suruga were kept certain war-junks for the defence of
the bay of Tōtōmi; and just beyond, upon a high mountain, stood the
fortress of Kunō, esteemed by the Japanese impregnable. It was built
to contain the imperial treasures, but they had since been removed to
Yedo.

In the course of the next day (Saturday, March 10) the road turned
inland, in order to cross the great river Fujigawa, which enters into
the head of the bay, taking its rise in the high, snowy mountain
Fuji-no-Yama.[22] It was crossed in flat broad-bottomed boats,
constructed of thin planks, so as on striking the rocks to yield and
slip over. The mountain Fuji, whence this river takes its rise and
name, towers in a conical form above all the surrounding hills, and
is seen at a great distance. It is ascended for the worship of the
Japanese god of the winds, to whom the Yamabushi, or mountain priests,
are consecrated, and who frequently repeat the words _Fuji Yama_,, in
discoursing or begging. It takes three days to ascend this mountain;
but the descent can be made, so Kämpfer was told, in three hours, by
the help of sledges of reeds or straw, tied about the waist, by means
of which one may glide down over the snow in winter and the sand in
summer, it being surprisingly smooth and even. Japanese poets cannot
find words, Kämpfer tells us, nor Japanese painters colors, in which to
represent this mountain as they think it deserves.

[Illustration: THE MARKETING AND PREPARATION OF FOOD: A KITCHEN,
SHOWING UTENSILS; A FISHMONGER]

Our travellers kept on this day and the next (Sunday, March 11) through
the mountainous country of Hakone, which runs out southward from the
broad peninsula of Izu. At a village, hemmed in between a lake
and a mountain, the lake itself surrounded in every other direction
by mountains not to be climbed, was a narrow pass—another imperial
searching-place, where all persons travelling to, and especially from,
Yedo must submit to a rigorous examination. Upon the shore of this lake
were five small wooden chapels, and in each a priest seated, beating
a gong and howling a namida [abbreviation of Namamidabutsu]. “All the
Japanese foot-travellers of our retinue,” says Kämpfer, “threw them
some kasses into the chapel, and in return received each a paper, which
they carried, bareheaded, with great respect, to the shore, in order to
throw it into the lake, having first tied a stone to it, that it might
be sure to go to the bottom, which they believe is the purgatory for
children who die before seven years of age. They are told so by their
priests, who, for their comfort, assure them that as soon as the water
washes off the names and characters of the gods and saints, written
upon the papers above mentioned, the children at the bottom feel great
relief, if they do not obtain a full and effectual redemption.” This
lake has but one outlet, falling over the mountains in a cataract, and
running down through a craggy and precipitous valley, along which the
road is carried on a very steep descent to the mouth of the river in
the bay of Yedo. Here, on a plain four miles in width, was found the
town of Odawara, containing about a thousand small houses, very neatly
built, and evidently inhabited by a better class of people; but the
empty shops evinced no great activity of trade or manufactures. The
castle and residence of the prince, as well as the temples, were on the
north side, in the ascent of the mountains.

The next day (Monday, March 12), the road following the northwest
shore of the outer bay of Yedo crossed several very rapid streams,
till at length the mountains on their left disappeared, and a broad
plain spread out extending to Yedo. Off the shore was seen the island
of Kamakura,[23] with high and rugged shores, but of which the surface
was flat and wooded. It was not above four miles in circumference, and
was used, like several other islands, as a place of confinement for
disgraced noblemen. There being no landing-place, the boats that bring
prisoners or provisions must be hauled up and let down by a crane.
After a time the road left the shore, crossing a promontory which
separates the outer from the inner bay of Yedo; but by sunset the shore
of the inner bay was struck.

The country now became exceedingly fruitful and populous, and almost
a continued row of towns and villages. In one of these villages there
lived in a monastery an old gray monk, fourscore years of age, and a
native of Nagasaki. “He had spent,” says Kämpfer, “the greatest part
of his life in holy pilgrimages, running up and down the country,
and visiting almost all the temples of the Japanese empire. The
superstitious vulgar had got such a high notion of his holiness, that
even in his lifetime they canonized and reverenced him as a great
saint, to the extent of worshipping his statue, which he caused to be
carved of stone, exceeding in this even Alexander the Great, who had
no divine honors paid him during his life. Those of his countrymen who
were of our retinue did not fail to run thither to see and pay their
respects to that holy man.”

The Dutch company lodged at Kanagawa, a town of six hundred houses,
twenty-four miles from the capital. The coast of the bay appeared at
low water to be of a soft clay, furnishing abundance of shell-fish and
of certain sea-weeds, which were gathered and prepared for food. The
road the next day (Tuesday, March 13), still hugging the shore, led on
through a fruitful and populous district, in which were several fishing
villages, the bay abounding with fish. As they approached Shinagawa,
they passed a place of public execution, offering a show of human heads
and bodies, some half putrefied and others half devoured—dogs, ravens,
crows, and other ravenous beasts and birds, uniting to satisfy their
appetites on these miserable remains.[24]

Shinagawa, immediately adjoining Yedo, of which it forms a sort of
outer suburb, consisted of one long, irregular street, with the bay on
the right and a hill on the left, on which stood some temples. Some few
narrow streets and lanes turned off from the great one towards these
temples, some of which were very spacious buildings, and all pleasantly
seated, adorned within with gilt idols, and without with large carved
images, curious gates, and staircases of stone leading up to them. One
of them was remarkable for a magnificent tower, four stories high.
“Though the Japanese,” says Kämpfer, “spare no trouble nor expense to
adorn and beautify their temples, yet the best fall far short of that
loftiness, symmetry, and stateliness, which is observable in some of
our European churches.”

Having ridden upwards of two miles through Shinagawa, they stopped at
a small inn, pleasantly seated on the seaside, from which they had a
full view of the city and harbor of Yedo, crowded with many hundred
ships and boats of all sizes and shapes. The smallest lay nearest the
town, and the largest one or two leagues off, not being able to go
higher by reason of the shallowing of the water. “Our Bugiō,” says
Kämpfer, “quitted his norimono here and went on horseback, people of
his extraction not being suffered to enter the capital in a norimono.
We travelled near a mile to the end of the suburb of Shinagawa, and
then entered the suburbs of Yedo, which are only a continuation of the
former, there being nothing to separate them but a small guard-house.
The bay comes here so close to the foot of the hill that there is but
one row of small houses between it and the road, which, for some time,
runs along the shore, but soon widens into several irregular streets
of a considerable length, which, after about half an hour’s riding,
became broader, more uniform, handsome, and regular, whence, and from
the great throngs of people, we concluded that we were now got into the
city. We kept to the great middle street, which runs northward across
the whole city, though somewhat irregularly, passing over several
stately bridges laid across small rivers and muddy canals, which run on
our left towards the castle, and on our right towards the sea, as did
also several streets turning off from the great one.

“The throng of people along this chief and middle street, which is
about one hundred and twenty-five feet broad, is incredible. We met as
we rode along many numerous trains of princes of the empire and great
men at court, and ladies richly apparelled, carried in norimono; and,
among other people, a company of firemen on foot, about one hundred in
number, walking in much the same military order as ours do in Europe.
They were clad in brown leather coats to defend them against the fire;
and some carried long pikes, others fire-hooks, upon their shoulders.
Their captain rode in the middle. On both sides of the street were
multitudes of well-furnished shops of merchants and tradesmen, drapers,
silk-merchants, druggists, idol-sellers, booksellers, glass-blowers,
apothecaries, and others. A black cloth hanging down covers one half of
the shop, of which the front projects a little way into the street, so
as to expose to view curious patterns of the goods offered for sale.
We took notice that scarce anybody here had curiosity enough to come
out of his house to see us go by, as they had done in other places,
probably because such a small retinue as ours had nothing remarkable or
uncommon to amuse the inhabitants of so populous a city.

“Having rode above two miles along this great street, and passed by
fifty other streets, which turned off on both sides, we at last turned
in ourselves; and, coming to our inn, found our lodgings ready in the
upper story of a back house, which had no other access but through
a by-lane. We arrived at one in the afternoon, having completed our
journey from Nagasaki in twenty-nine days.

“Yedo,[25] the residence of the emperor, the capital, and by much the
largest city of the empire, is seated in the province Musashi, in 35°
32´ of northern latitude (according to Kämpfer’s observations), on
a large plain, at the head of a gulf, plentifully stored with fish,
crabs, and other shell-fish, but so shallow, with a muddy clay at the
bottom, that no ships of bulk can come up to the city, but must be
unladen a league or two below it.

“Towards the sea the city hath the figure of a half-moon, and the
Japanese will have it to be seven of their miles (about sixteen English
miles) long, five (twelve English) broad, and twenty (fifty English) in
circumference. It is not enclosed with a wall, no more than other towns
in Japan, but cut through by many broad canals, with ramparts raised on
both sides, and planted at the top with rows of trees, not so much for
defence as to prevent the fires—which happen here too frequently—from
making too great a havoc.

“A large river, rising westward of the city, runs through it, and
loses itself in the harbor. It sends off a considerable arm, which
encompasses the castle, and thence falls into the harbor, in five
different streams, every one of which hath its particular name, and a
stately bridge over it. The chief, and most famous, of these bridges,
two hundred and fifty-two feet in length, is called Nihonbashi, or the
bridge of Japan, mention of which has already been made, as the point
from which distances are reckoned all over the empire.

“Yedo is not built with that regularity which is observable in most
other cities in Japan (particularly Miyako), and this because it
swelled by degrees to its present bulk. However, in some parts the
streets run regularly enough, cutting each other at right angles,—a
regularity entirely owing to accidents of fire, whereby some hundred
houses being laid in ashes at once, as, indeed, very frequently
happens, the new street may be laid out upon what plan the builders
please.” Many places, which have been thus destroyed by fire, were
noticed by Kämpfer still lying waste. “The houses are small and low,
built of fir wood, with thin clayed walls, divided into rooms by paper
screens and lattices, the floors covered with mats, and the roofs with
shavings of wood. The whole machine being thus but a composition of
combustible matter, we need not wonder at the great havoc fires make
in this country. Here, as elsewhere, almost every house hath a place
under the roof, or upon it, where they constantly keep a tub full of
water, with a couple of mats, which may be easily come at, even from
without the house; by which precaution they often quench a fire in
particular houses; but it is far from being sufficient to stop the fury
of a raging flame which has got ground already, against which they know
no better remedy but to pull down some of the neighboring houses which
have not yet been reached, for which purpose whole companies of firemen
patrol about the streets day and night.

“The city is well stocked with monks, temples, monasteries, and other
religious buildings, which are seated in the best and pleasantest
places, as they are, also, in Europe, and, I believe, in all other
countries. The dwelling-houses of private monks are no ways different
from those of the laity, excepting only that they are seated in some
eminent conspicuous place, with some steps leading up to them, and a
small temple or chapel hard by, or, if there be none, at least a hall,
or large room, adorned with some few altars, on which stand several of
their idols. There are, besides, many stately temples built to Amida,
Shaka, Kwannon, and several other of their gods, not necessary to be
particularly described here, as they do not differ much in form or
structure from other temples erected to the same gods at Miyako, which
we shall have an opportunity to view and describe more particularly
upon our return to that city.

“There are many stately palaces in Yedo, as may be easily conjectured,
by its being the residence of the emperor, and the abode of all the
noble and princely families. They are distinguished from other houses
by large court-yards and stately gates. Fine varnished staircases, of
a few steps, lead up to the door of the house, which is divided into
several magnificent apartments, all of a floor, they being not above
one story high, nor adorned with towers, as the castles and palaces are
where the princes and lords of the empire reside in their hereditary
dominions.

“The city of Yedo is a nursery of artists, handicraftsmen, merchants,
and tradesmen, and yet everything is sold dearer than anywhere else in
the empire, by reason of the great concourse of people, and the number
of idle monks and courtiers, as, also, the difficulty of importing
provisions and other commodities.

“The political government of this city is much the same as at Nagasaki
and Ōsaka. Two governors have the command of the town by turns, each
for the space of one year. The chief subaltern officers are the
Burgomasters, as the Dutch call them, or mayors, who have the command
of particular quarters, and the Ottona, who have the inspection and
subordinate command of single streets.

[Illustration: A CARPENTER SHOP]

“The castle and residence of the emperor is seated about the middle
of the city. It is of an irregular figure, inclining to the round,
and hath five Japanese miles in circumference. It embraces two
fore-castles, as one may call them, the innermost and third castle,
which is properly the residence of the emperor, and two other
strong, well fortified, but smaller castles at the sides, also some
large gardens behind the imperial palace. I call these several
divisions castles, because they are every one by itself, enclosed with
walls and ditches.

“The first and outermost castle takes in a large spot of ground, which
encompasses the second castle, and half the imperial residence, and
is enclosed itself with walls and ditches, and strong, well-guarded
gates. It hath so many streets, ditches, and canals, that I could not
easily get a plan of it. Nor could I gather anything to my satisfaction
out of the plans of the Japanese themselves.[26] In this outermost
castle reside the princes of the empire, with their families, living
in commodious and stately palaces, built in streets, with spacious
courts, shut up by strong, heavy gates. The second castle takes in a
much smaller spot of ground. It fronts the third, and residence of
the emperor, and is enclosed by the first, but separated from both
by walls, ditches, draw-bridges, and strong gates. The guard of this
second castle is much more numerous than that of the first. In it are
the stately palaces of some of the most powerful princes of the empire,
the councillors of state, the prime ministers, chief officers of the
crown, and such other persons who must give a more immediate attendance
upon the emperor’s person.

“The castle itself, where the emperor resides, is seated somewhat
higher than the others, on the top of a hill, which hath been purposely
flatted for the imperial palace to be built upon it. It is enclosed
with a thick, strong wall of freestone, with bastions standing out,
much after the manner of the European fortifications. A rampart of
earth is raised against the inside of this wall, and at the top
of it stand, for ornament and defence, several long buildings and
square guard-houses, built in form of towers, several stories high.
Particularly the structures on that side where the imperial residence
is are of an uncommon strength, all of freestone of an extraordinary
size, which are barely laid upon each other, without being fastened
either with mortar or braces of iron, which was done, they say, that,
in case of earthquakes, which frequently happen in this country, the
stones yielding to the shock, the wall itself should receive no damage.

“Within the palace a square white tower rises aloft above all other
buildings. It is many stories high, adorned with roofs and other
curious ornaments, which make the whole castle look, at a distance,
magnificent beyond expression, amazing the beholders, as do, also, the
many other beautiful bended roofs, with gilt dragons at the top, which
cover the rest of the buildings within the castle.

“The side castles are very small, and more like citadels, without
any outward ornament. There is but one passage to them, out of the
emperor’s own residence, over a high, long bridge. Both are enclosed
with strong, high walls, encompassed with broad, deep ditches, filled
by the great river. In these two castles are bred up the imperial
princes and princesses.

“Behind the imperial residence there is still a rising ground,
beautified, according to the country fashion, with curious and
magnificent gardens and orchards, which are terminated by a pleasant
wood at the top of a hill, planted with two curious kinds of
plane-trees, whose starry leaves, variegated with green, yellow, and
red, are very pleasing to the eye, of which the Japanese affirm that
one kind is in full beauty in spring, the other towards autumn.

“The palace itself hath but one story, which, however, is of a fine
height. It takes in a large spot of ground, and hath several long
galleries and spacious rooms, which, upon putting on or removing
of screens, may be enlarged or brought into a narrower compass, as
occasion requires, and are contrived so as to receive at all times a
convenient and sufficient light. The chief apartments have each its
particular name. Such are, for instance, the waiting-room, where all
persons that are to be admitted to an audience, either of the emperor
or his prime ministers of state, wait till they are introduced; the
council-chamber, where the ministers of state and privy councillors
meet upon business; the hall of thousand mats, where the emperor
receives the homage and usual presents of the princes of the empire
and ambassadors of foreign powers; several halls of audience; the
apartments for the emperor’s household, and others. The structure of
all these several apartments is exquisitely fine, according to the
architecture of the country. The ceilings, beams, and pillars are of
cedar, or camphor, or jeseriwood, the grain of which naturally runs
into flowers and other curious figures, and is, therefore, in some
apartments, covered only with a thin, transparent, layer of varnish,
in others japanned, or curiously carved with birds and branched work,
neatly gilt. The floor is covered with the finest white mats, bordered
with gold fringes or bands; and this is all the furniture to be seen in
the palaces of the emperor and princes of the empire.”

The 29th of March, the last of the second Japanese month, was appointed
for the reception of the Dutch,—Makino Bingo-no-Kami, the emperor’s
principal counsellor and favorite, being in a hurry to get rid of
them, because on the fifth of the ensuing month he was to have the
honor to treat the emperor at dinner, a favor which requires a good
deal of time and vast preparations. “This Bingo,” says Kämpfer, “tutor
to the reigning monarch before he came to the crown, is now his chief
favorite, and the only person whom he absolutely confides in. At our
audience it is he that receives the emperor’s words and commands from
his own mouth, and addresses the same to us. He is near seventy years
of age, a tall but lean man, with a long face, a manly and German-like
countenance, slow in his actions, and very civil in his whole behavior.
He hath the character of a just and prudent man, no ways given to
ambition, nor inclined to revenge, nor bent upon heaping up immoderate
riches—in short, of being altogether worthy of the great confidence and
trust the emperor puts in him.”




CHAPTER XXXVII

 _Personages to be visited—Visit to the Emperor—First Audience—Second
 Audience—Visit to the Houses of the Councillors—Visits to the
 Governors of Yedo and the Temple Lords—Visit to the Houses of the
 Governors of Nagasaki—Audience of Leave—Return—Visits to Temples in
 the Vicinity of Miyako—A. D. 1691-1692._


The ministers of state and other great men at court, some of whom the
Dutch were to visit, and to make presents to others, were the five
chief councillors of state, called _Gorōjū_, or the five elderly men;
four imperial deputy councillors of state; the three Jisha-bugyō,
as they are called, that is, lords of the temple; the imperial
commissioners, as the Dutch call them, described by Kämpfer as the
emperor’s attorney-generals for the city of Yedo; the two governors of
Yedo; and, last of all, that one of the governors of Nagasaki resident
at Yedo.

“On the 29th of March,”[27] says Kämpfer, “the day appointed for our
audience, the presents designed for his imperial majesty[28] were sent
to court, to be there laid in due order on wooden tables, in the hall
of hundred mats, as they call it, where the emperor was to view them.
We followed soon after with a very inconsiderable equipage, clad in
black silk cloaks, as garments of ceremony, attended by three stewards
of the governors of Nagasaki, our Dōshin, or deputy Bugiō, two town
messengers of Nagasaki, and an interpreter’s son, all walking on foot.
We three Dutchmen and our second interpreter rode on horseback, behind
each other, our horses led by grooms, who took them by the bridle. Our
president, or captain, as the Japanese call him, came after us, carried
in a norimono, and was followed by our old chief interpreter, carried
in a kago. The procession was closed by the rest of our servants and
retinue, walking a-foot at proper distances, so far as they were
permitted to follow us.

“In this order we moved on towards the castle, and after about half
an hour’s riding came to the first enclosure, which we found well
fortified with walls and ramparts. This we entered over a large bridge
across a broad river, on which we saw great numbers of boats and
vessels. The entry is through two strong gates, with a small guard
between them. Having passed through the second gate, we came to a large
place, where we found another more numerous guard, which, however,
seemed to be intended more for state than defence. The guard-room was
hung about with cloth; pikes were planted in the ground near the entry,
and within it was curiously adorned with gilt arms, lackered guns,
pikes, shields, bows, arrows, and quivers. The soldiers on the ground
were in good order, clad in black silk, each with two scymitars stuck
in their girdle.

“Having passed across this first enclosure, riding between the houses
and palaces of the princes and lords of the empire, built within its
compass, we came to the second, which we found fortified much after
the same manner, only the gates and inner guard and palaces were much
more stately and magnificent. We left our norimono and kago here, as
also our horses and servants, and were conducted across this second
enclosure to the Tono-machi (Lord-street), which we entered over a
long stone bridge; and having passed through a double bastion, and as
many strong gates, and thence about twenty paces further through an
irregular street, built, as the situation of the ground would allow
it, with walls of an uncommon height on both sides, we came to the
_Hiakunimban_, that is, guard of hundred men, or great guard of the
castle. Here we were commanded to wait till we could be introduced
to an audience, which we were told should be as soon as the great
council of state was met in the palace. We were civilly received by
the two captains of the guard, who treated us with tea and tobacco.
Soon after, Kawaguchi Settsu-no-Kami (the governor of Nagasaki resident
at Yedo) and the two commissioners came to compliment us, along with
some gentlemen of the emperor’s court, who were strangers to us.
Having waited about an hour, during which time most of the imperial
councillors of state, old and young, went into the palace, some walking
on foot, others carried in norimono, we were conducted through two
stately gates, over a large square place, to the palace, to which there
is an ascent of a few steps leading from the second gate. The place
between the second gate and the front of the palace is but a few paces
broad, and was then excessively crowded with throngs of courtiers and
troops of guards.

“Thence we were conducted up two other staircases into a spacious room
next to the entry on the right, being the place where all persons
that are to be admitted to an audience wait till they are called in.
It is a large and lofty room, but, when all the screens are put on,
pretty dark, receiving but a sparing light from the upper windows
of an adjoining room. It is otherwise richly furnished, according to
the country fashion, and its gilt posts, walls, and screens are very
pleasing to behold.

“Having waited here upwards of an hour, and the emperor having in the
meanwhile seated himself in the hall of audience, Settsu-no-Kami and
the two commissioners came in and conducted our president into the
emperor’s presence, leaving us behind. As soon as he came thither, they
cried out aloud, ‘Hollanda Captain!’ which was the signal for him to
draw near and make his obeisance. Accordingly he crawled on his hands
and knees to a place showed him between the presents, ranged in due
order on one side, and the place where the emperor sat on the other,
and then kneeling, he bowed his forehead quite down to the ground, and
so crawled backwards like a crab, without uttering one single word. So
mean and short a thing is the audience we have of this mighty monarch.
Nor are there any more ceremonies observed in the audience he gives
even to the greatest and most powerful princes of the empire; for,
having been called into the hall, their names are cried out aloud;
then they move on their hands and feet humbly and silently towards
the emperor’s seat, and having showed their submission by bowing
their forehead down to the ground, they creep back again in the same
submissive posture.

[Illustration: PLOUGHING; A FREIGHT CART]

“The hall of audience is not in the least like that which hath been
described and figured by Montanus in his ‘Memorable Embassies of the
Dutch to the Emperors of Japan.’ The elevated throne, the steps leading
up to it, the carpet pendent from it, the stately columns supporting
the building which contains the throne, the columns between which
the princes of the empire are said to prostrate themselves before the
emperor, and the like, have all no manner of foundation but in that
author’s fancy. The floor is covered with an hundred mats, all of the
same size. Hence it is called Senjō-shiki, that is, The Hall of an
Hundred Mats.[29] It opens on one side towards a small court, which
lets in the light; on the opposite side it joins two other apartments,
which are on this occasion laid open towards the same court, one
of which is considerably larger than the other, and serves for the
councillors of state when they give audience by themselves. The other
is narrower, deeper, and one step higher than the hall itself. In this
the emperor sits when he gives audience, raised only on a few carpets.
Nor is it an easy matter to see him, the light reaching not quite so
far as the place where he sits, besides that the audience is too short,
and the person admitted to it, in so humble and submissive a posture
that he cannot well have an opportunity to hold up his head and to view
him. This audience is otherwise very awful and majestic, by reason
chiefly of the silent presence of all the councillors of state, as also
of many princes and lords of the empire, the gentlemen of his majesty’s
bed-chamber, and other chief officers of his court, who line the hall
of audience and all its avenues, sitting in good order, and clad in
their garments of ceremony.

“Formerly all we had to do, at the emperor’s court, was completed by
the captain’s paying the usual homage, after the manner above related.
But, for about these twenty years last past, he and the rest of the
Dutchmen that came up with the embassy to Yedo, were conducted deeper
into the palace, to give the empress, and the ladies of her court,
and the princesses of the blood, the diversion of seeing us. In this
second audience the emperor and the ladies invited to it attend behind
screens and lattices, but the councillors of state and other officers
of the court sit in the open rooms in their usual and elegant order.
As soon as the captain had paid his homage, the emperor retired into
his apartment, and not long after we three Dutchmen were likewise
called up and conducted, together with the captain, through several
apartments, into a gallery curiously carved and gilt, where we waited
about a quarter of an hour, and were then, through several other walks
and galleries, carried further into a large room, where they desired
us to sit down, and where several courtiers with shaved heads, being
the emperor’s physicians, the officers of his kitchen, and some of
the clergy, came to ask after our names, age, and the like; but gilt
screens were quickly drawn before us, to deliver us from their throng
and troublesome importunity.

“We stayed here about half an hour; meanwhile the court met in the
imperial apartments, where we were to have our second audience, and
whither we were conducted through several dark galleries. Along all
these several galleries there was one continued row of lifeguardsmen,
and nearer to the imperial apartments followed in the same row some
great officers, who lined the front of the hall of audience, clad in
their garments of ceremony, bowing their heads and sitting on their
heels.

“The hall of audience consisted of several rooms looking towards a
middle place, some of which were laid open towards the same, others
covered by screens and lattices. Some were of fifteen mats, others
of eighteen, and they were a mat higher or lower, according to the
quality of the persons seated in the same. The middle place had no
mats at all, they having been taken away, and was consequently the
lowest, on whose floor, covered with neat varnished boards, we were
commanded to sit down. The emperor and his imperial consort sat behind
the lattices on our right. As I was dancing, at the emperor’s command,
I had an opportunity twice of seeing the empress through the slits of
the lattices, and took notice that she was of a brown and beautiful
complexion, with black European eyes, full of fire, and from the
proportion of her head, which was pretty large, I judged her to be a
tall woman, and about thirty-six years of age. By lattices, I mean
hangings made of reed, split exceedingly thin and fine, and covered
on the back with a fine, transparent silk, with openings about a span
broad, for the persons behind to look through. For ornament’s sake, and
the better to hide the persons standing behind, they are painted with
divers figures, though it would be impossible to see them at a distance
when the light is taken off behind.

“The emperor himself was in such an obscure place that we should scarce
have known him to be present had not his voice discovered him, which
yet was so low, as if he purposely intended to be there incognito. Just
before us, behind other lattices were the princes of the blood and the
ladies of the empress and her court. I took notice that pieces of paper
were put between the reeds, in some parts of the lattices, to make the
openings wider, in order to a better and easier sight. I counted about
thirty such papers, which made me conclude, that there was about that
number of persons sitting behind.

“Bingo sat on a raised mat, in an open room by himself, just before us,
towards our right, on which side the emperor sat behind the lattices.
On our left, in another room, were the councillors of state of the
first and second rank, sitting in a double row in good and becoming
order. The gallery behind us was filled with the chief officers of the
emperor’s court and the gentlemen of his bed-chamber. The gallery,
which led into the room where the emperor was, was filled with the sons
of some princes of the empire, then at court, the emperor’s pages and
some priests. After this manner it was that they ordered the stage on
which we were now to act.

“The commissioners for foreign affairs having conducted us into the
gallery before the hall of audience, one of the councillors of state
of the second rank came to receive us there and to conduct us to the
above-described middle place, on which we were commanded to sit down,
having first made our obeisances after the Japanese manner, creeping
and bowing our heads to the ground, towards that part of the lattices
behind which the emperor was. The chief interpreter sat himself a
little forward, to hear more distinctly, and we took our places on
his left hand, all in a row. After the usual obeisances, Bingo bid
us welcome in the emperor’s name. The chief interpreter received the
compliment from Bingo’s mouth, and repeated it to us. Upon this the
ambassador made his compliment in the name of his masters, returning
their most humble thanks to the emperor for having graciously granted
the Dutch liberty of commerce. This the chief interpreter repeated in
Japanese, having prostrated himself quite to the ground, and speaking
loud enough to be heard by the emperor. The emperor’s answer was again
received by Bingo, who delivered it to the chief interpreter, and he
to us. He might have, indeed, received it himself from the emperor’s
own mouth, and saved Bingo this unnecessary trouble; but I fancy that
the words, as they flow out of the emperor’s mouth, are esteemed too
precious and sacred for an immediate transit into the mouth of persons
of a low rank.

“The mutual compliments being over, the succeeding part of this
solemnity turned to a perfect farce. We were asked a thousand
ridiculous and impertinent questions. They desired to know how old each
of us was, and what was his name, which we were commanded to write upon
a bit of paper, in anticipation of which we had provided ourselves with
an European inkhorn. This paper, together with the inkhorn itself,
we were commanded to give to Bingo, who delivered them both into the
emperor’s hands, reaching them over below the lattice. The captain,
or ambassador, was asked the distance of Holland from Batavia, and of
Batavia from Nagasaki; also which of the two was the most powerful, the
Director-general of the Dutch East India Company at Batavia, or the
Prince of Holland? As for my own particular, the following questions
were put to me. What external and internal distempers I thought the
most dangerous and most difficult to cure? How I proceeded in the cure
of cancerous humors and imposthumations of the inner parts? Whether our
European physicians did not search after some medicine to render people
immortal, as the Chinese physicians had done for many hundred years?
Whether we had made any considerable progress in this search, and
which was the last remedy conducive to long life that had been found
out in Europe? To which I returned in answer, that very many European
physicians had long labored to find out some medicine, which should
have the virtue of prolonging human life and preserving people in
health to a great age; and, having thereupon been asked which I thought
the best, I answered, that I always took that to be the best which was
found out last, till experience taught us a better; and being further
asked, which was the last, I answered, a certain spirituous liquor,
which could keep the humors of our body fluid and comfort the spirits.
This general answer proved not altogether satisfactory; for I was
quickly desired to let them know the name of this excellent medicine,
upon which, knowing that whatever was esteemed by the Japanese had long
and high-sounding names, I returned in answer it was the _Sal volatile
Oleosum Sylvii_. This name was minuted down behind the lattices, for
which purpose I was commanded to repeat it several times. The next
question was, who it was that found it out, and where it was found out?
I answered, Professor Sylvius, in Holland. Then they asked whether I
could make it up. Upon this our resident whispered me to say no; but
I answered, yes, I could make it up, but not here. Then it was asked
whether it could be had at Batavia; and having returned, in answer,
that it was to be had there, the emperor desired that it should be sent
over by the next ships.

“The emperor, hitherto seated almost opposite to us, at a considerable
distance, now drew nearer, and sat himself down on our right, behind
the lattices, as near us as possible. He ordered us to take off our
kappas, or cloaks, being our garments of ceremony; then to stand
upright, that he might have a full view of us; again to walk, to
stand still, to compliment each other, to dance, to jump, to play
the drunkard, to speak broken Japanese, to read Dutch, to paint, to
sing, to put our cloaks on and off. Meanwhile we obeyed the emperor’s
commands in the best manner we could, I joining to my dance a love-song
in High German. In this manner, and with innumerable such other apish
tricks, we must suffer ourselves to contribute to the emperor’s and
the court’s diversion. The ambassador, however, is free from these and
the like commands, for, as he represents the authority of his masters,
some care is taken that nothing should be done to injure or prejudice
the same; and besides he showed so much gravity on his countenance and
whole behavior, as was sufficient to convince the Japanese that he was
not at all a fit person to have such ridiculous and comical commands
laid upon him.

“Having been thus exercised for a matter of two hours, though with
great apparent civility, some shaved servants came in and put before
each of us a small table with Japanese victuals, and a couple of
ivory sticks instead of knives and forks. We took and ate some little
things, and our old chief interpreter, though scarce able to walk, was
commanded to carry away the remainder for himself. We were then ordered
to put on our cloaks again and to take our leave; which we gladly and
without delay complied with, putting thereby an end to this second
audience.[30] The imperial audience over, we were conducted back by
the two commissioners to the waiting-room, where we took our leave of
them also.

“It was now already three o’clock in the afternoon, and we had still
several visits to make to the councillors of state of the first and
second rank. Accordingly we left forthwith, saluted as we went by
the officers of the great imperial guard, and made our round a-foot.
The presents had been carried beforehand to every one’s house by our
clerks. They consisted of some Chinese, Bengalese, and other silk
stuffs, some linen, black serge, some yards of black cloth, gingangs,
pelangs, and a flask of Tent wine.

“We were everywhere received by the stewards and secretaries with
extraordinary civility, and treated with tea, tobacco, and sweetmeats
as handsomely as the little time we had to spare would allow. The rooms
where we were admitted to audience were filled behind the screens and
lattices with crowds of spectators, who would fain have obliged us
to show them some of our European customs and ceremonies, but could
obtain nothing excepting only a short dance at Bingo’s house (who came
home himself a back way), and a song from each of us at the youngest
councillor’s of state. We then returned again to our kago and horses,
and having got out of the castle, through the northern gate, went back
to our inn another way, on the left of which we took notice that there
were strong walls and ditches. It was just six in the evening when we
got home, heartily tired.

“Friday, the 30th of March, we rode out again betimes, in the morning,
to make some of our remaining visits. The presents, such as above
described, were sent before us by our Japanese clerks, who took care
to lay them on trays or tables, and to arrange them in good order,
according to the country fashion. We were received at the entry of
the house, by one or two of the principal domestics, and conducted to
the apartment where we were to have our audience. The rooms round the
hall of audience were everywhere crowded with spectators. As soon as
we had seated ourselves we were treated with tea and tobacco. Then
the steward of the household came in, or else the secretary, either
alone or with another gentleman, to compliment us, and to receive
our compliments, in his master’s name. The rooms were everywhere so
disposed as to make us turn our faces towards the ladies, by whom we
were very generously and civilly treated with cakes and several sorts
of sweetmeats. We visited and made our presents, this day, to the
two governors of Yedo, to the three ecclesiastical judges (or temple
lords), and to the two commissioners for foreign affairs, who lived
near a mile from each other, one in the southwest, the other in the
northeast, part of the castle. They both profess themselves to be
particular patrons of the Dutch, and received us accordingly with great
pomp and magnificence. The street was lined with twenty men armed,
who, with their long staffs, which they held on one side, made a very
good figure, besides that they helped to keep off the throng of people
from being too troublesome. We were received upon our entering the
house and introduced to audience, much after the same manner as we had
been in other places, only we were carried deeper into their palaces
and into the innermost apartment, on purpose that we should not be
troubled with numbers of spectators, and be at more liberty ourselves
as well as the ladies who were invited to the ceremony. Opposite us, in
the hall of audience, there were grated lattices, instead of screens,
for the length of two mats (twelve feet) and upwards, behind which
sat such numbers of women of the commissioner’s own family and their
relations and friends, that there was no room left. We had scarce
seated ourselves, when seven servants, well clad, came in, and brought
us pipes and tobacco, with the usual apparatus for smoking. Soon after,
they brought in something baked, laid on japanned trays, then some
fish fried, all after the same manner, by the same number of servants,
and always but one piece in a small dish; then a couple of eggs, one
baked, the other boiled and shelled, and a glass of old, strong sake,
standing between them. After this manner we were entertained for about
an hour and a half, when they desired us to sing a song and to dance;
the first we refused, but satisfied them as to the last. In the house
of the first commissioner a drink made of sweet plums was offered us
instead of sake. In the second commissioner’s house we were presented
first of all with _manjū_ bread,[31] in a brown liquor, cold, with some
mustard-seed and radishes laid about the dish, and at last with some
orange-peels with sugar, which is a dish given only upon extraordinary
occasions, in token of fortune and good will. We then drank some tea,
and having taken our leave, went back to our inn, where we arrived at
five in the evening.”

(The following bills of fare are given in Kämpfer’s account of his
second visit to Yedo: “At the first commissioner’s: 1. Tea. 2. Tobacco,
with the whole set of instruments for smoking. 3. Philosophical or
white syrup. 4. A piece of _stienbrassen_, a very scarce fish, boiled
in a brown sauce. 5. Another dish of fish, dressed with bran-flower and
spices. 6. Cakes of eggs rolled together. 7. Fried fish, presented on
skewers of bamboo. 8. Lemon-peels with sugar.

“After every one of these dishes they made us drink a dish of sake, as
good as ever I tasted. We were likewise presented twice, in dram cups,
with wine made of plums, a very pleasant and agreeable liquor. Last of
all, we were again presented with a cup of tea.

“At the second commissioner’s we were treated, after tea and tobacco,
with the following things: 1. Two long slices of _manjū_, dipped into a
brown sop or sauce, with some ginger. 2. Hard eggs. 3. Four common fish
fried and brought in on bamboo skewers. 4. The stomachs of carps, salt,
in a brown sauce. 5. Two small slices of a goose, roasted and warm,
presented in unglazed earthen dishes.

“Good liquor was drank about plentifully, and the commissioner’s
surgeon, who was to treat us, did not miss to take his full dose. Each
guest was separately served with the above dishes on little tables or
salvers, about a foot square and a few inches high.)

“On the 31st of March, we rode out again at ten in the morning, and
went to the houses of the three governors of Nagasaki, two of whom were
then absent on duty at Nagasaki. We presented them on this occasion
only with a flask of Tent each, they having already received their
other presents at Nagasaki. We were met by Settsu-no-kami, the one then
at Yedo, just by the door of his house. He was attended by a numerous
retinue and, having called both our interpreters to him, he commanded
them to tell us his desire that we should make ourselves merry in his
house. Accordingly we were received extraordinarily well, and desired
to walk about and to divert ourselves in his garden, as being now in
the house of a friend at Yedo, and not in the palace of our governor
and magistrate at Nagasaki.[32] We were treated with warm dishes and
tea, much after the same manner as we had been by the commissioners,
and all the while civilly entertained by his own brother, and several
persons of quality of his friends and relations.

[Illustration: VIEWS AT FUSHIMI: DOLL AND TOY SHOPS; ENTRANCE TO INARI
TEMPLE]

“Having stayed about two hours, we went to Tonosama’s house, where we
were conducted into the innermost and chief apartment, and desired
twice to come nearer the lattices on both sides of the room. There were
more ladies behind the screens here than, I think, we had as yet met
with in any other place. They desired us, very civilly, to show them
our clothes, the captain’s arms, rings, tobacco-pipes, and the like,
some of which were reached them between or under the lattices. The
person that treated us in the absent governor’s name, and the other
gentlemen who were then present in the room, entertained us likewise
very civilly, and we could not but take notice that everything was so
cordial that we made no manner of scruple of making ourselves merry,
and diverting the company each with a song. The magnificence of
this family appeared fully by the richness and exquisiteness of this
entertainment, which was equal to that of the first commissioner’s, but
far beyond it in courteous civility and a free, open carriage. After
an hour and a half we took our leave. The house of Tonosama is the
furthermost to the north or northwest we were to go to, a mile and a
half from our inn, but seated in by much the pleasantest part of the
town, where there is an agreeable variety of hills and shrubbery. The
family of Tubosama (?), the third governor, lives in a small, sorry
house near the ditch which encompasses the castle. We met here but a
few women behind a screen, who took up with peeping at us through a
few holes, which they made as they sat down. The strong liquors, which
we had been this day obliged to drink in larger quantities than usual,
being by this time got pretty much into our heads, we made haste to
return home, and took our leave as soon as we had been treated, after
the usual manner, with tea and tobacco.”

Two or three days after followed the audience of leave preparatory to
the return to Nagasaki. Of this Kämpfer gives much the fullest account
in his narrative of his second visit to Yedo, which we follow here.

Having proceeded to the palace as at the first audience, after half an
hour’s stay in the waiting-room, the “Captain Hollanda” was called in
before the councillors of state, who directed one of the commissioners
to read the usual orders to him, five in number, chiefly to the
effect that the Dutch should not molest any of the boats or ships of
the Chinese or the Lew Chewans trading to Japan, nor bring in any
Portuguese or priests.

These orders being read, the director was presented with thirty gowns,
laid on three of the Japanese wooden stands or salvers, which he crept
upon all fours to receive, and in token of respect held one of the
gowns over his head.

This ceremony over, the Dutch were invited to stay to dinner, which
was served up in another room. Before each was placed a small table or
salver, on which lay five fresh, hot, white cakes, as tough as glue,
and two hollow cakes of two spans in circumference, made of flour and
sprinkled with sesamum seeds. A small porcelain cup contained some
bits of pickled salmon in a brown sauce, by the side of which lay two
wooden chopsticks. Tea also was served up, but in “poor and sorry”
brown dishes, and the tea itself proved to be little better than hot
water. Fortunately the Dutch, seldom caught napping upon that point,
had provided themselves, before leaving home in the morning, with “a
good substantial breakfast”; and, besides, they had been treated in the
guard-room with fresh _manjū_, and with sweet brown cakes of sugar and
bean flour.

While they were eating this dinner, “so far from answering to the
majesty and magnificence of so powerful a monarch, that a worse one
could not have been had at any private man’s house,” several young
noblemen busied themselves in examining their hats, coats, dress,
etc. Dinner over, after half an hour in the waiting-room, they were
conducted, through passages and galleries which they did not remember
to have seen before, to the hall of audience, which, by a change in the
position of some of the screens, presented quite a new appearance. They
were put in the very same uncarpeted spot as at their first audience,
and were again called upon, as then, to answer questions, dance, sing
songs, and exhibit themselves. Among the persons called in were two
physicians, with whom Kämpfer had some professional conversation;
also several shaven priests, one of whom had an ulcer on his shin,
as to which Kämpfer’s opinion was asked. As it was a fresh sore, and
the inflammation about it slight, he judged it to be of no great
consequence. At the same time he advised the patient not to be too
familiar with sake, pretending to guess by his wound, what was obvious
enough from his red face and nose, that he was given to drinking,—a
shrewd piece of professional stratagem, which occasioned much laughter
at the patient’s expense.

“This farce over, a salver was brought in for each guest, on which was
placed the following Japanese dishes: 1. Two small, hollow loaves,
sprinkled with sesamum seeds. 2. A piece of white, refined sugar,
striped. 3. Five candied kernels of the kaki [persimmon] tree, not
unlike almonds. 4. A flat slice of cake. 5. Two cakes, made of flour
and honey, shaped like a tunnel, brown, thick, and somewhat tough. 6.
Two slices of a dark reddish and brittle cake, made of bean flour and
sugar. 7. Two slices of a rice flour cake, yellow and tough. 8. Two
slices of another cake or pie, of which the inside seemed to be of
quite a different substance from the crust. 9. A large _manjū_, boiled
and filled with brown sugar, like treacle. Two smaller _manjū_, of the
common bigness, dressed after the same manner. A few of these things
were eaten, and the rest, according to the Japanese custom, were taken
home by the interpreter, for whom they proved quite a load, especially
as he was old and rheumatic.”

Having been dismissed with many ceremonies, they went next to the
house of the acting governor of Yedo, who received them with great
cordiality, and gave them an entertainment consisting of a cup of tea,
boiled fish with a very good sauce, oysters boiled and brought in the
shells, with vinegar, a dish which, it was intimated, had been prepared
from the known fondness of the Dutch for it, several small slices of a
roasted goose, fried fish and boiled eggs, with very good liquor served
up between the dishes. Thence they went to the houses of the governors
of Nagasaki, and returned home at night thoroughly tired out, but well
satisfied with their reception.

Meanwhile, the customary presents began to come in, which, in case the
director was at home, were presented and received in quite a formal
manner,—a speech being made by the bearer and an answer returned,
after which he was treated with tobacco, tea, sweetmeats, and Dutch
liquors. Besides thirty gowns from the emperor, ten were sent by each
of the five ordinary councillors, six by each of the four extraordinary
councillors, five by each of the three lords of the temple, and two,
“pretty sorry ones,” Kämpfer says, by each of the governors of Yedo,—in
all, a hundred and twenty-three, of which those given by the emperor
went to the Company, and all the rest to the director, constituting no
inconsiderable perquisite.

[Illustration: A VIEW OF FUJI]

It is the custom, on the return of the Dutch, when they reach Miyako,
to take them to see some of the principal temples. The first one
visited by Kämpfer was the Buddhist temple and convent, where the
emperor lodges when he comes to visit the Dairi. The approach to this
temple was a broad, level, gravel walk, half a mile in length, lined on
both sides with the stately dwellings of the ecclesiastics attached to
it. Having alighted and passed a lofty gateway, the visitors ascended
to a large terrace, finely gravelled and planted with trees and
shrubs. Passing two handsome structures, they ascended a beautiful
stairway to a magnificent building, with a front superior to that of
the imperial palace at Yedo. In the middle of the outermost hall was
a chapel containing a large idol with curled hair, surrounded with
smaller idols. On both sides were some smaller and less elaborate
chapels; behind were two apartments for the emperor’s use, opening
upon a small pleasure-garden at the foot of a mountain, clothed with a
beautiful variety of trees and shrubs. Behind this garden, and on the
ascent of the mountain, was a chapel dedicated to the predecessor of
the reigning emperor, who had been deified under the name of _Genyūin_.

“The visitors were next conducted across a square to another temple, of
the size of an ordinary European church, supported on thirty pillars,
or rather fifty-six, including those of the gallery which surrounded
it. These pillars were, however, but nine feet high, and of wood,
and, with the beams and cornices, were painted some red, some yellow.
The most striking feature of this building, which was entirely empty
within, was its bended roofs, four in number, one over the other, of
which the lowest and largest jutted over the gallery. There were said
to be not less than twenty-seven temples within the enclosure of this
monastery.

“Up the hill, near a quarter of a mile distant, was a large bell,
which Kämpfer describes as rather superior in size to the smaller of
the two great Moscow bells (which he had seen), rough, ill-cast, and
ill-shaped. It was struck on the outside by a large wooden stick. The
prior who, with a number of the monks, received and entertained the
Dutch visitors was an old gentleman, of an agreeable countenance and
good complexion, clad in a violet or dark purple-colored gown, with an
alms bag in his hand richly embroidered with gold.

“The largest and most remarkable of the temples seen at Miyako was that
called Daibutsu, on the road to Fushimi. It was enclosed by a high wall
of freestone, the front blocks being near twelve feet square. A stone
staircase of eight steps led up to the gateway, on either side of which
stood a gigantic image, near twenty-four feet high, with-the face of
a lion, but otherwise well-proportioned, black, or of a dark purple,
almost naked, and placed on a pedestal six feet high. That on the left
had the mouth open and one of the hands stretched out. The opposite one
had the mouth shut and the hand close to the body. They were said to be
emblems of the two first and chief principles of nature, the active and
passive, the giving and taking, the opening and shutting, generation
and corruption. Within the gateway were sixteen stone pillars on each
side for lamps, a water basin, etc.; and on the inside of the enclosing
wall was a spacious walk or gallery, open towards the interior space,
but covered with a roof which was supported by two rows of pillars,
about eighteen feet high and twelve feet distant from each other.

“Directly opposite the entrance, in the middle of the court, stood the
temple, much the loftiest structure which Kämpfer had seen in Japan,
with a double roof supported by ninety-four immense wooden pillars, of
at least nine feet diameter, some of them of a single piece, but others
of several trunks put together as in the case of the masts of our large
ships, and all painted red.”

Within, the floor was paved with square flags of freestone,—a thing
not seen elsewhere. There were many small, narrow doors running up
to the first roof, but the interior, on account of its great height,
the whole up to the second roof forming but one room, was very badly
lighted. Nothing was to be seen within except an immense idol, sitting
(not after the Japanese, but after the Indian manner, with the legs
crossed before it) on a terete flower, supported by another flower, of
which the leaves were turned upwards, the two being raised about twelve
feet from the floor. The idol, which was gilt all over, had long ears,
curled hair, a crown on the head, which appeared through the window
over the first roof, with a large spot not gilt on the forehead. The
shoulders, so broad as to reach from one pillar to another, a distance
of thirty feet, were naked. The breast and body were covered with a
loose piece of drapery. It held the right hand up, the left rested
edgewise on the belly.

The Kwannon temple was a structure very long in proportion to its
breadth. In the midst was a gigantic image of Kwannon, with thirty-six
arms. Sixteen black images, bigger than life, stood round it, and on
each side two rows of gilt idols with twenty arms each. On either side
of the temple, running from end to end, were ten platforms rising
like steps one behind the other, on each of which stood fifty images
of Kwannon, as large as life,—a thousand in all, each on its separate
pedestal, so arranged as to stand in rows of five, one behind the
other, and all visible at the same time, each with its twenty hands.
On the hands and heads of all these are placed smaller idols, to
the number of forty or more; so that the whole number, thirty-three
thousand three hundred and thirty-three, according to the estimate of
the Japanese, does not appear exaggerated.

Klaproth[33] gives some curious details as to these temples, derived
from a Japanese Guide Book, such as is sold to visitants. The
dimensions of the temple and of the image of Daibutsu, or the great
Buddha, are given with great minuteness. The body is seventy-seven feet
five and one-fourth inches high (Rhineland measure), and the entire
statue with the lotus, eighty-nine feet eight and three-fourths inches.
The head of the colossus protrudes through the roof of the saloon.[34]

At a little distance is a chapel called _Mimitsuka_, or “tomb of ears,”
in which are buried the ears and noses of the Coreans who fell in the
war carried on against them by Taikō-Sama, who had them salted and
conveyed to Japan. The grand portico of the external wall of the temple
is called Ni-ō-mon, “gate of the two kings.” On entering this vast
portico, which is eighty-three and one-half feet high, on each side
appears a colossal figure twenty-two feet in height, representing the
two celestial kings, Aōn and Jugo, the usual porters at the Buddhist
temples. Another edifice placed before the apartment of the great
Buddha, contains the largest bell known in the world. It is seventeen
feet two and one-half inches high, and weighs one million seven hundred
thousand Japanese pounds (katties), equal to two million sixty-six
thousand pounds English. Its weight is consequently five times greater
than the great bell at Moscow. If this is the same bell described by
Kämpfer, here is a remarkable discrepancy.




CHAPTER XXXVIII

 _Further Decline of the Dutch Trade—Degradation of the Japanese
 Coins—The Dutch threaten to withdraw from Japan—Restrictions on
 the Chinese Trade—Probable Cause of the Policy adopted by the
 Japanese—Drain of the Precious Metals—New Basis upon which Future
 Trade must be arranged._


Notwithstanding the lamentations uttered by Kämpfer in the name of the
Dutch factors, the trade to Japan had by no means in his time reached
its lowest level, and it was subjected soon after his departure to new
and more stringent limitations.

In the year 1696 appeared a new kind of koban. The old koban was twenty
carats eight and a half, and even ten, grains fine; that is, supposing
it divided into twenty-four parts, twenty parts and a half were fine
gold.[35] The new koban was thirteen carats six or seven grains fine,
containing, consequently, only two-thirds as much gold as the old one,
and yet the Dutch were required to receive it at the same rate of
sixty-eight mas of silver.

The old koban had returned on the coast of Coromandel a profit of
twenty-five per cent, the new produced a loss of fifteen or sixteen per
cent; but some of the old koban being still paid over at the same rate
as the new, some profits continued to be derived from the gold, till,
in 1710, the Japanese made a still more serious change in their coin,
by reducing the weight of the koban nearly one-half, from forty-seven
kanderins (two hundred and seventy-four grains) to twenty-five
kanderins (one hundred and forty-six grains), which, as the Dutch were
still obliged to receive these new koban at the rate of sixty-eight
mas, caused a loss of from thirty-four to thirty-six per cent. From
this time the old koban passed as double koban, being reckoned at twice
their former weight. The koban of the coinage of 1730 were about five
per cent better than the preceding ones; but the Dutch trade continued
rapidly to decline, especially after the exportation of copper was
limited, in 1714, to fifteen thousand chests, or piculs, and, in 1721,
to ten thousand piculs annually. From this time, two ships sufficed for
the Dutch trade.

For thirty years previous to 1743, the annual gross profits on the
Japanese trade had amounted to five hundred thousand florins (two
hundred thousand dollars), and some years to six hundred thousand
(two hundred and forty thousand dollars); but in 1743 they sunk below
two hundred thousand florins (eighty thousand dollars), which was the
annual cost of maintaining the establishment at Deshima.

Upon this occasion, a “Memoir on the Trade of Japan, and the Causes of
its Decline,” was drawn up by Imhoff, at that time governor-general
at Batavia, which affords information on the change in the value of
the koban, and other matters relating to the Dutch trade to Japan, not
elsewhere to be found.[36] It is apparent from his memoir that the
trade was not managed with the sagacity which might have been expected
from private merchants. The cargoes were ill assorted, and did not
correspond to the requisitions of the Japanese. They, on the other
hand, had repeatedly offered several new articles of export, which the
Company had declined, because, in the old routine of their trade, no
profitable market appeared for these articles at the prices asked for
them.

The Dutch attempted to frighten the Japanese by threatening to close
their factory altogether, but this did not produce much effect, and,
since the date of Imhoff’s memoir, the factory appears not to have
done much more than to pay its expenses. That the Japanese were not
very anxious for foreign trade, appears by their having restricted
the Chinese, previous to 1740, to twenty junks annually, and at a
subsequent period to ten junks.

The Dutch imagined that the above-mentioned changes in the coins of
Japan were made solely with a view to their trade and to curtail their
profits. Raffles suggests, on the other hand, that this degradation of
the Japanese coins was the natural result of the immense export of the
precious metals, which, in the course of the two hundred years from
1540 to 1740, must have drained Japan of specie to the value of perhaps
not less than two hundred millions of dollars. The exports of foreign
nations, as we have seen, were almost entirely metallic, and the mines
of Japan were by no means so productive as to be able to withstand this
constant drain. The export of silver was first stopped. Then gold was
raised to such a value as effectually to stop the exportation of that,
and restrictions were, at the same time, put upon the exportation
of copper. This sagacious conjecture of Raffles is confirmed by a
tract on the Origin of the Riches of Japan, written, in 1708, by Arai
Chikugo-no-Kami [Arai Hakuseki], a person of high distinction at
the emperor’s court, of which the original was brought to Europe by
Titsingh, and of which Klaproth has given a translation, in the second
volume of the “Nouveau Journal Asiatique.” The author of this tract
states, perhaps from official documents, the amount of gold and silver
exported from Nagasaki, from 1611 to 1706, as follows: Gold, 6,192,600
koban; silver, 112,268,700 taels. Of this amount, 2,397,600 koban and
37,420,900 taels of silver had been exported since 1646. The exports of
copper from 1663 to 1708 are stated at 1,114,446,700 katties.

This export is represented as having commenced in the time of
Nobunaga,[37] when the mines of Japan had first begun to be largely
productive, and, previous to 1611, to have been much greater than
afterwards, which is ascribed by this author in part to the amounts
sent out of the country, by the Catholic natives, to purchase masses
for their souls. Much alarm is expressed lest, with the decreased
product of the mines, and continual exportation, Japan should be
reduced to poverty. Titsingh ascribes the origin of this tract to
the extravagance of the reigning emperor, which it was desired to
check by good advice; but the exportation of the precious metals by
foreigners is evidently the point aimed at.

[Illustration: VIEW OF HAKONE; LAKE BIWA]

“There goes out of the empire annually,” says this writer, “about
one hundred and fifty thousand koban, or a million and a half in ten
years. It is, therefore, of the highest importance to the public
prosperity to put a stop to these exportations, which will end in
draining us entirely. Nothing is thought of but the procuring foreign
productions, expensive stuffs, elegant utensils, and other things not
known in the good old times. Since Gongen, gold, silver, and copper
have been abundantly produced; unfortunately the greater part of this
wealth has gone for things we could have done quite as well without.
The successors of Gongen ought to reflect upon this, in order that
the wealth of the empire may be as lasting as the heavens and the
earth.” Ideas like those broached in this tract seem to be the basis
of the existing policy of Japan on the subject of foreign trade; and,
independently of this, the failure of the Japanese mines renders any
return to the old system of the Portuguese and Dutch traffic quite out
of the question. Japan has no longer gold and silver to export, and if
a new trade is to be established with her, it must be on an entirely
new basis, the exports to consist of something else than metallic
products.




CHAPTER XXXIX

 _Thunberg’s Visit to Japan—Searches and
 Examinations—Smuggling—Interpreters—Deshima—Imports and
 Exports—Unicorn’s Horn and Ginseng—Soy—The Dutch at Deshima—Japanese
 Mistresses—Japanese Women—Studying the Language—Botanizing—Clocks—New
 Year’s Day—Trampling on Images—Departure for Yedo—Journey through
 the Island of Shimo—Japanese Houses and Furniture—Manufacture of
 Paper—Practice of Bathing—Shimonoseki—Voyage to Ōsaka—Children—From
 Ōsaka to Miyako—Agriculture—Animals—A.D. 1775-1776._


From the time of Kämpfer’s departure from Deshima, of all the Dutch
residents and visitors there, none, for a period of upwards of eighty
years, favored the world with their observations. They went to Japan
in pursuit of money, not to obtain knowledge, either for themselves or
others.

At length, in 1775, Charles Peter Thunberg, a Swedish physician,
naturalist, and traveller, to gain an opportunity of seeing Japan,
obtained the same official situation which Kämpfer had held before him.
Being an enthusiastic botanist, he was sent to the East by some wealthy
merchants of Amsterdam to obtain new trees and plants, as well for
the medical garden of that city as for their own private collections.
Circumstances caused him to spend three years at the Cape of Good
Hope, whence he proceeded to Batavia. He left that port June 20, 1775,
and arrived off Nagasaki the 14th of the following August. From an
experience of more than a hundred years, the Company reckoned on the
loss of one out of every five ships sent to Japan, though care was
taken to select the best and strongest vessels.[38]

The searches and examinations previous to landing were the same
described by Kämpfer. Hitherto it had been usual to allow the captains
of the vessels to pass at pleasure to and from their ships without
being searched; they, with the directors of the Dutch factory,
being the only persons exempt from that ceremony. The captains had
taken advantage of this exemption to dress themselves out, for the
convenience of smuggling, in a showy, blue silk, silver-laced coat,
made very wide and large, in which dress they generally made three
trips a day to and from Deshima, being often so loaded down with goods
that they had to be supported by a sailor under each arm. Thunberg’s
captain rigged himself out in the same style; but, much to his
disappointment and that of the other Dutchmen, whose private goods the
captains had been accustomed to smuggle for a commission, the Japanese
officers who boarded the ship brought orders that the captain should
dress like the rest; that he and the director also should be searched
when they landed, and that the captain should either stop on board,
or, if he landed, should remain on shore, being allowed to visit the
ship only twice during her stay. “It was droll enough,” says Thunberg,
“to see the astonishment which the sudden reduction in the size of our
bulky captain excited in the major part of the ignorant Japanese, who
before had always imagined that all our captains were actually as fat
and lusty as they appeared to be.”

In the year 1772, one of the Dutch ships from Batavia, disabled in a
violent storm, had been abandoned by her crew, who, in their haste,
or believing that she would speedily sink, had neglected the standing
order of the Company, in such cases, to set her on fire. Some days
after she drifted to the Japanese shore, and was towed into the harbor
of Nagasaki, when the Japanese found on board a number of chests marked
with the names of the principal Dutch officers, and full of prohibited
goods,—and it was to this discovery that the new order was ascribed.

The examination of the clothes and persons of all who passed to and
from the ship was very strict. The large chests were emptied, and the
sides, top, and bottom sounded to see if they were not hollow. Beds
were ripped open and the feathers turned over. Iron spikes were thrust
into the butter-tubs and jars of sweetmeats. A square hole was cut in
the cheeses, and a thick, pointed wire thrust through them in every
direction. Even some of the eggs brought from Batavia were broken, lest
they might be shams in which valuables were concealed.

Formerly, according to Thunberg, the Dutch took the liberty to correct
with blows the Japanese _kuri_ employed as laborers on board the
ships; but in his time this was absolutely prohibited. He adds, that
the respect of the Japanese for the Dutch was a good deal diminished
by observing “in how unfriendly and unmannerly a style they usually
behave to each other, and the brutal treatment which the sailors under
their command frequently experience from them, together with the oaths,
curses, and blows with which the poor fellows are assailed by them.”

The interpreters would seem to have adopted, since the time of Kämpfer
(as he makes no mention of it), the practice of medicine among their
countrymen after the European manner. This made them very inquisitive
as to matters of physic and natural history, and very anxious to obtain
European books, which they studied diligently. Kämpfer speaks of the
interpreters with great indignation as the most watchful and hateful
of spies. Thunberg appears to have established very good terms with
them. New restrictions, however, had been placed on their intercourse
with the resident Dutchmen, whom, to prevent smuggling, they were not
allowed to visit, except in company with one or two other officers.

Deshima, from Thunberg’s description of it, appears to have altered
very little since Kämpfer’s residence there, though glass windows had
lately been brought from Batavia, by some of the Dutch residents, as a
substitute for the paper windows of the Japanese.

The permanent residents were now twelve or thirteen (there had been but
seven in Kämpfer’s time), besides slaves brought from Batavia, of whom
each Dutchman had one.

The goods sent out by the Company at the time of Thunberg’s visit were
sugars (almost the only article of consumption which the Japanese do
not produce for themselves), elephants’ teeth, sappan-wood for dyeing,
tin, lead, bar-iron, fine chintzes of various sorts, Dutch broadcloths,
shalloons, silks, cloves, tortoise-shell, China-root, and _Costus
Arabicus_. The goods of private adventurers were saffron, Venice
treacle, Spanish liquorice, rattans, spectacles, looking-glasses,
watches, Ninjin-root or ginseng, and unicorns’ horns. This latter
article, the horn of the _Monodon monoceros_, a product of the
Greenland fishery, had been lately introduced. The Japanese ascribed
to it wonderful virtues as a medicine, believing it to have the power
to prolong life, strengthen the animal spirits, assist the memory, and
cure all sorts of complaints. Thunberg had carried out as his venture
thirty-seven katties (about fifty pounds) of this horn, which sold
for five thousand and seventy-one taels, or upwards of six thousand
dollars; so that, after paying the advances made to him at Batavia, he
had a handsome surplus to expend in his favorite pursuit of natural
history.

The genuine Chinese ginseng (_Panax quinquefolium_) sold at a price
full as high as that of unicorn’s horn. The American article, being
regarded as not genuine, was strictly prohibited, but was smuggled in
to mix with the Chinese.[39]

Scientific works in the Dutch language, though not a regular article of
sale, might be often exchanged to advantage with the interpreters.

The Company imported a quantity of silver coin, but private persons
were not allowed to do so, though a profit might have been made on
it. The sale by kamban continued exactly as Kämpfer had described it.
No Japanese money came into the hands either of the Company or of
individuals from the sale of their goods by kamban. They only acquired
a credit, which they were able to exchange for Japanese articles.

The chief articles of export were copper, camphor, and lackered goods;
porcelain, rice, sake, soy,[40] were also exported. The profits of this
trade had been greatly curtailed. “Formerly,” says Thunberg, “it was
so very profitable to individuals that hardly anybody but favorites
were sent out as chiefs, and when these had made two voyages, it was
supposed that they were rich enough to be able to live on the interest
of their fortunes, and that, therefore, they ought to make room for
others. At present a chief is obliged to make many voyages. His success
is now no more to be envied, and his profits are thought to be very
inconsiderable.”

Of the general enjoyment of a residence at Deshima Thunberg does not
speak very highly. “An European that remains here is, in a manner,
dead and buried in an obscure corner of the globe. He hears no news
of any kind; nothing relative to war or other misfortunes and evils
that plague and infest mankind; and neither the rumors of inland or
foreign concerns delight or molest his ear. The soul possesses here
one faculty only, which is the judgment (if, indeed, it be at all times
in possession of that). The will is totally debilitated, and even
dead, because, to an European there is no other will than that of the
Japanese, by which he must exactly square his conduct.

“The European way of living is, in other respects, the same as in other
parts of India, luxurious and irregular. Hence, just as at Batavia, we
pay a visit every evening to the chief, after having walked several
times up and down the two streets. These evening visits generally last
from six o’clock till ten, and sometimes eleven or twelve at night, and
constitute a very disagreeable way of life, fit only for such as have
no other way of spending their time than droning over a pipe of tobacco
and a bottle.”

The Europeans remaining at Deshima had each two or three handsome
rooms, besides the store-rooms in the lower story. These they occupied
without rent, the only expense being that of furnishing them. As the
winter set in, the cold, with an easterly or northerly wind, was
quite piercing, and they had fires of charcoal in a large copper
kettle with a broad rim. Placed in the middle of the room it warmed
the whole apartment for hours together. The looseness of the doors
and windows prevented any ill consequences from the gases. As the
residents all dined and supped at a common table, kept at the Company’s
expense, their outlays did not amount to much—“except,” says Thunberg,
“they squander away their money on the fair sex, or make expensive
entertainments and give suppers to each other.”

The account which Thunberg gives of the Japanese mistresses of the
Dutch is very much the same with that given by Kämpfer. These women,
when spoken for to an officer appointed for that purpose, come attended
by a little serving-maid,—one of the young apprentices of the houses
to which they belonged,—who brought daily from the town her mistress’
food, made her tea, kept her things in order, and ran on errands. One
of these female companions could not be had for less than three days,
but might be kept a year, or even several years. The price was eight
mas, or one dollar a day, besides her maintenance and presents of silk
dresses, girdles, head-ornaments, etc. According to Thunberg, children
were very seldom born of these connections. He was assured, but did not
credit it, that if such a thing happened, the child, if a boy, would be
murdered; and that, if a girl, it would be sent at fifteen to Batavia;
but of this he knew of no instance. There was, in his time, one girl
about six years old, born of a Japanese mother, living on the island
with her father. Later accounts go to show that Dutch-Japanese children
are by no means such rarities as Thunberg represents.[41]

The women painted their lips with colors, made of the _Catharinus
tinctorius_, or bastard saffron, rubbed on little porcelain bowls. If
laid on very thin, the lips appeared red; if thick, it gave them a
violet hue, esteemed by the Japanese as the more beautiful. The married
women were distinguished by blacking their teeth with a fœtid mixture,
so corrosive that the lips had to be protected from it while it was
laid on. It ate so deeply into the teeth that it took several days
and much trouble to scrape it away. “To me at least,” says Thunberg,
“a wide mouth with black shining teeth had an ugly and disagreeable
appearance.” The married women distinguished themselves also by pulling
out their eyebrows; and another distinction was that they knotted their
girdles before, and the single women behind.

Thunberg noticed that venereal diseases, which he ascribed to European
intercourse, were very common,[42] and he congratulated himself on the
questionable service of having introduced the mercurial treatment.

As he had plenty of leisure and little taste for the Dutch fashion
of killing time, he endeavored to find more rational and profitable
employment. The residents were still allowed native servants, who,
though not interpreters, had learned to speak the Dutch language. But
the Dutch were strictly prohibited from learning the Japanese; and
though the interpreters were sufficiently well inclined, Thunberg
encountered many difficulties in his study of that language. It was
only after many inquiries that he found at last an old dictionary,
in the Latin, Portuguese, and Japanese, in quarto, containing nine
hundred and six pages. The title-page was gone, but the book purported
to have been compiled by the joint labors of the Jesuits at Japan, as
well European as natives. It belonged to one of the interpreters, who
possessed it as legacy from his ancestors, and he refused to sell it
for any price.[43]

Afterwards, at Yedo, he saw a book in long quarto, about an inch thick,
printed on Japanese paper, entirely in Japanese characters, except
the title-page, which bore the imprint of the Jesuits, with the date,
Nagasaki, A. D. 1598.

“Through incapacity in some and indolence in others,” the Dutch
possessed no vocabulary of the Japanese, and all the knowledge the
Dutch residents had of it did not go beyond calling by name a few
familiar articles. Thunberg has annexed to his Travels a short Japanese
vocabulary, but he does not appear to have made any great progress in
the language.

With much difficulty he obtained, about the beginning of February,
leave to botanize.[44] Every excursion cost him sixteen or eighteen
taels, as he was obliged to feast from twenty to thirty Japanese
officials, by whom he was always attended. On the neighboring hills he
noticed many burying-grounds, containing tombstones of various forms,
sometimes rough, but more frequently hewn, with letters, sometimes
gilt, engraved upon them. Before these stones were placed vessels, made
of large bamboos, containing water, with branches of flowers.

He also noticed, both around Nagasaki and afterwards on his journey to
Yedo, the pits, or rather large earthen jars, sunk by the road-side
for the collection of manure, both liquid and solid. To the fœtid
exhalations from these open pits, and to the burning of charcoal
without chimneys, he ascribed the red and inflamed eyes very common in
Japan. In the gardens he saw growing the common red beet, the carrot,
fennel, dill, anise, parsley, and asparagus; leeks, onions, turnips,
radishes, lettuce, succory, and endive. Long ranges of sloping ground,
at the foot of the mountains, were planted with the sweet potato.
Attempts were also made to cultivate the common potato, but with little
success. Several kinds of yams (_Dioscoreæ_) grew wild in the vicinity
of Nagasaki, of which one species was used for food, and, when boiled,
had a very agreeable taste.[45] Buckwheat, Windsor beans (_Vicia
faba_), several species of French beans (_Phascolus_), and peas (_Pisun
sativum_), were commonly cultivated; also, two kinds of cayenne pepper
(_Capsicum_), introduced probably by the Portuguese. Tobacco was also
raised, for the use and the name of which the Japanese were indebted to
the Portuguese. He observed also hemp, the _Acorus_, strongly aromatic;
a kind of ginger (_Amomum miōga_); the _Mentha piperita_; the _Alcea
rosea_ and _Malva Mauritiana_, cultivated for their flowers; the
_Celastrus alatus_, a branch of which, stuck at a young lady’s door,
is thought by the Japanese to have the power of making her fall in
love with you; the common juniper-tree; the bamboo and the box, also
the ivy; the China-root (_Smilax China_); wild figs, with small fruit
like plums (_Fiscus pumila_ and _erecta_); the pepper bush (_Figara
peperita_); a species of madder (_Rubia cordata_), and several species
of the _Pologonum_, used for dyeing. Also, two species of nettles,
the bark of which furnished cordage and thread, and the seeds of
one species an oil. The yellow flowers of the colewort (_Brassica
orientalis_), which was largely cultivated for the oil afforded by
its seeds, presented through the spring a beautiful appearance. This
oil was used for lamps. Oil for food, used, however, but sparingly,
was expressed from the _Sesamum orientale_ and the mustard seed. Solid
oils, for candles, were obtained from the nuts of the varnish-tree
(_Rhus vernix_), and from those of the _Rhus succedanea_, the
camphor-tree, the _Melea azedarach_, and the _Camellia sasankwa_.[46]

In striking fire a tinder is used made of the woolly part of the
leaves of the common wormwood. The famous moxa [_mogusa_], spoken of
hereafter, is a finer preparation of the same root. Instead of soap the
meal of a species of bean is employed.

The bark of the _Shikimi_, or anise-tree (a near relation of the
mangolia tribe, and whose flowers and leaves are much employed in
religious ceremonies), is used as a time-measurer. A box a foot long
is filled with ashes, in which are marked furrows, in parallel lines,
strewed with fine powder of this bark. The lid being closed, with only
a small hole left to supply air, the powder is set on fire at one end,
and consumed very slowly, and the hours, marked beforehand on these
furrows, are proclaimed in the daytime by striking the bells in the
temples, and in the night by the watch striking together two pieces
of wood. Another method of measuring time is by burning slow match,
divided into knots to mark the hours. The Japanese also have a clock,
the mechanism of which is described in a subsequent chapter.

“The first of January, according to custom,” says Thunberg, “most of
the Japanese that had anything to do at the Dutch factory came to
wish us a happy new year. Dressed in their holiday clothes, they paid
their respects to the director, who invited them to dine with him.
The victuals were chiefly dressed after the European manner, and,
consequently, but few of the dishes were tasted by the Japanese. Of
the soup they all partook, but of the other dishes, such as roasted
pigs, hams, salad, cakes, tarts, and other pastries, they ate little
or nothing, but put on a plate a little of every dish, and, when it
was full, sent it home, labelled with the owner’s name; and this was
repeated several times. Salt beef, and the like, which the Japanese do
not eat, were set by, and used as a medicine. The same may be said
of the salt butter, of which I was frequently desired to cut a slice
for some of the company. It is made into pills, and taken daily in
consumptions and other disorders. After dinner, warm sake was handed
round, which was drank out of lackered wooden cups.

“On this festive occasion the director invited from the town several
handsome girls, partly for the purpose of serving out the sake, and
partly to dance and bear the girls company who were already on the
island. After dinner, these girls treated the Japanese to several of
their own country messes, placed on small square tables, which were
decorated with an artificial fir-tree, the leaves of which were made
of green silk, and in several places sprinkled over with white cotton,
in imitation of the winter’s snow. The girls never presented the sake,
standing, but, after their own fashion, sitting. In the evening they
danced, and about five o’clock the company took their leave.”

The 19th of February, 1776, on which fell the beginning of the Japanese
year, was celebrated according to the Japanese custom, all of them
going visiting, dressed up in their holiday clothes, and wishing their
neighbors joy; and, indeed, this interchange of congratulations is kept
up, more or less, through the first month.

On the two last days of the year a general settlement of accounts takes
place. Fresh credit is then given for six months, when a new settlement
takes place. The rate of interest was high, ranging from eighteen to
twenty per cent. Thunberg was told that, after new-year’s day, there
was no right to demand settlement of the last year’s accounts.

Shortly after the Japanese new year, took place the trampling of
images, which ceremony, according to the information obtained by
Thunberg, was still performed by all the inhabitants of Nagasaki,
exactly as in Kämpfer’s time.

On the 4th of March the director set out for the emperor’s court,
accompanied, as usual, by the secretary of the factory, and by Thunberg
as physician. In Kämpfer’s day these two latter persons had been
obliged to make the journey on horseback, exposed to cold, rain, and
all the inclemencies of the weather. Since then they had obtained the
privilege of travelling in norimono, equally with the director. Dr.
Thunberg seems to have been well satisfied with his vehicle, which he
describes as both handsome and convenient. Each norimono traveller
had with him a bottle of red wine, and another of Dutch ale, taken
daily from the large stock provided for the journey, and preferred by
the Europeans to tea, which they regarded as a “great relaxer of the
stomach.” Each traveller had also an oblong lackered box, containing
“a double slice of bread and butter.” In order to support the dignity
of the Dutch East India Company, the bed equipage which they carried
with them, consisting of coverlids, pillows, and mattresses, was
covered with the richest open-work velvets and silks. Their retinue, on
horseback and on foot, was numerous and picturesque. They were received
everywhere with the honor and respect paid to the princes of the land;
and, besides, says Thunberg, were so well guarded “that no harm could
befall us, and, at the same time, so well attended that we had no more
care upon our minds than a sucking child; the whole of our business
consisting in eating and drinking, or in reading or writing for our
amusement, in sleeping, dressing ourselves, and being carried about in
our norimono.”

[Illustration: THE EAR-MOUND AT KYŌTŌ]

At setting out, each of the three Dutchmen received from the purveyor
fifty taels, for their individual expenses. This was the first Japanese
money which Thunberg had seen, and this, with other sums doled out
to them from time to time, was chiefly spent in presents to their
attendants. The disbursement on this score, at starting, amounted to
ten taels each.

In the early part of their journey, they followed a somewhat different
road from Kämpfer’s, all the way by land, not crossing either the bay
of Ōmura, nor that of Shimabara. They passed, however, through Shiota,
as Kämpfer had done, famous for its large water-jars, and visited
the hot springs in that neighborhood, and also Saga, capital of the
province of Hizen, remarkable for its handsome women, its rice and its
fine porcelain. The roads were found such as Kämpfer had described
them. Proceeding onward, still by Kämpfer’s route, they reached Kokura
on the ninth of March. The following description of Japanese houses
corresponds sufficiently well with that of Kämpfer, while it gives
a rather more distinct, and somewhat less flattering, idea of them.
“The houses are very roomy and commodious, and never more than two
stories—at most twenty feet—high, of which the lower one is inhabited,
and the upper serves for lofts and garrets, and is seldom occupied.
The mode of building in this country is curious and peculiar. Every
house occupies a great extent of ground, and is built in general of
wood and plaster, and whitewashed on the outside so as to look exactly
like stone. The beams all lie horizontal or stand perpendicular.
Between these beams, which are square and far from thick, bamboos
are interwoven, and the space filled up with clay, sand, and lime.
The roofs are covered with tiles of a singular make, very thick and
heavy. The more ordinary houses are covered with chips [shingles], on
which are frequently laid heavy stones to secure them. In the villages
and meaner towns I sometimes saw the sides of the houses, especially
behind, covered with the bark of trees, which was secured by laths
nailed on it to prevent the rain from damaging the wall.

“The whole house makes but one room, which can be divided according as
it may be found necessary, or thought proper, into many smaller ones.
This is done by moving slight partitions, consisting of wooden frames,
pasted over with thick painted paper, which slide with great ease in
grooves made in the beams of the floor and roof for that purpose. Such
rooms were frequently partitioned off for us and our retinue, during
our journey; and when a larger apartment was wanted for a dining-room,
or any other purpose, the partitions were in an instant taken away.
One could not see, indeed, what was done in the next room, but one
frequently overheard the conversation that passed there.

“In each room there are two or more windows, which reach from the
ceiling to within two feet of the floor. They consist of light
frames which may be taken out, put in, and slid behind each other,
at pleasure, in two grooves made for this purpose in the beams above
and below them. They are divided by slender rods into panes of a
parallelogrammatic form, sometimes to the number of forty, and pasted
over on the outside with fine white paper, which is seldom if ever
oiled, and admits a great deal of light, but prevents any one from
seeing through it. The roof always projects a great way beyond the
house, and sometimes has an addition which covers a small projecting
gallery that stands before each window. From this little roof go
slanting inwards and downwards several quadrangular frames, within
which hang blinds made of rushes, which may be drawn up and let down,
and serve not only to hinder people that pass by from looking into the
house, but chiefly when it rains to prevent the paper windows from
being damaged. There are no glass windows here; nor have I observed
mother-of-pearl or muscovy talc (mica, or isinglass) used for this
purpose.

“The houses have neither the elegant appearance nor the convenience and
comfort of ours in Europe. The rooms are not so cheerful and pleasant,
nor so warm in the winter, neither are they so safe in case of fire,
nor so durable. Their semi-transparent paper windows, in particular,
spoil the houses, as well in their inside as outside appearance.
Neither chimneys nor stoves are known throughout the whole country,
although the cold is very intense, and they are obliged to make fires
in their apartments from October to March. The fires are made in copper
kettles, of various sizes, with broad projecting edges. This mode of
firing is liable, however, to this inconvenience, that the charcoal
sometimes smokes, in consequence of which the apartment becomes dirty
and black, and the eyes of the company suffer exceedingly.

“The floors are always covered with mats made of a fine species of
rush (_Juncus effusus_), cultivated in low spots for that purpose,
and interwoven with rice straw. These mats are from three to four
inches thick, and of the same size throughout the country, viz., two
yards long and one broad. The insides of the houses, both ceiling
and walls, are covered with a handsome, thick paper, ornamented with
various flowers. These hangings are either green, yellow, or white; and
sometimes embellished with silver and gold. As the paper is greatly
damaged by the smoke in winter, it is renewed every third or fifth
year.[47]

“The furniture in this country is as simple as the style of building.
Neither cupboards, bureaus, sofas, beds, tables, chairs, clocks,
looking-glasses, nor anything else of the kind, is to be seen. To the
greater part of these the Japanese are utter strangers. Their soft
floor-mats serve them for chairs. A small table, or rather salver,
about twelve inches square and four high, is set before each person in
company at every meal, of which there are three a day. The food (rice,
soup, and fish being the principal articles) is served in lackered
wooden cups. Most other nations of the East sit with their legs laid
across before them,—the Chinese and Japanese lay their feet under
their bodies, and make a chair of their heels. When the hour of rest
approaches, a soft mattress, stuffed with cotton, is spread out on the
mats. The Japanese have no pillows, instead of which they use oblong
lackered pieces of wood. With the above apparatus for sleeping, the
Japanese bed-chamber is put in order, and he himself up and dressed,
in the twinkling of an eye; as, in fact, scarcely a longer time is
requisite for him to throw the gown over him, which serves for dress by
day and bedclothes at night, and to gird it round his waist.

“Though mirrors do not decorate the walls, they are in general use at
the toilet, made not of glass, but of a composition of copper and zinc
highly polished, and fixed obliquely in a stand of wood made for that
purpose. Cleanliness is a constant object with these people, and not
a day passes in which they do not wash themselves, whether they are
at home or on a journey. In all towns and villages, inns and private
houses, there are baths.” He adds, however, what goes rather against
this alleged cleanliness, that as the poor, to save expense, are
accustomed to use water in which others have repeatedly bathed, they
are apt in that way to take infectious disorders. Neither do their open
manure vaults, placed by the roadsides and in the very fronts of their
houses, agree so well with this eulogy.

At Kokura the Dutch bespoke, against their return, rice and charcoal
for the factory at Deshima. Having crossed to Shimonoseki, they
embarked, on the 12th of March, in a large Japanese junk, for Ōsaka;
but, having made less than half the voyage, they encountered contrary
winds, which drove them a long distance back, and detained them for
near three weeks. The weather was so cold as to make fires comfortable,
and colds and catarrhs, endemical to Japan from the changeability of
its climate, were very prevalent. All this time they slept on board,
but had several times an opportunity to go on shore to amuse themselves
at the inns and temples, the Japanese sailors being always anxious to
land in order to bathe.

The country all along this coast was mountainous, which was the reason
of going by sea instead of by land, the land road being very difficult.
This coast seemed, nevertheless, to be highly cultivated, the mountains
in many places resembling beautiful gardens.

At the places where they landed, the children were very numerous. “I
observed,” says Thunberg, “that the chastisement of children was very
moderate. I very seldom heard them rebuked or scolded, and hardly ever
saw them flogged or beaten, either in private families or on board
the vessels; while, in more civilized and enlightened nations, these
compliments abound.[48] In the schools one might hear the children read
all at once, and so loud as almost to deafen one.”

Whenever the Japanese went on shore, they killed geese and ducks for
the Dutchmen to eat; but at sea they had scruples about killing them,
though in fine weather the Chinese teal (_Anas galericulata_), and
several sorts of ducks, fairly covered the water, so as to look at
a distance like great islands. But, though scrupulous themselves,
they made no objections to Thunberg’s killing them; though, not being
allowed the use of fire-arms, it does not appear how he did it.

At length, on the seventh of April, after a disagreeable and dangerous
passage of twenty-six days, they reached the harbor of Hiōgo, whence
the next day, partly by land and partly in small boats, they proceeded
to Ōsaka. Here each of the travellers disbursed sixteen taels in
presents to the captain and crew of the vessel, for the hire of which
the sum of four hundred and eighty taels was paid by the East India
Company. They stayed at Ōsaka only a single night, during which they
bespoke from some merchants, who visited them[49] with samples, several
articles, such as insects of copper, artificial trees varnished, fans
of various kinds, writing paper, paper hangings, etc. They left Ōsaka
early in the morning, by torchlight, and, following the same road which
Kämpfer had taken, reached Miyako at night. “Except in Holland,” says
Thunberg, “I never made so pleasant a journey as this, with regard
to the beauty and delightful appearance of the country. The whole
country, on both sides of us, as far as we could see, was nothing but a
fertile field, and the whole of our long day’s journey extended through
villages, of which one began where the other ended.”

The farmers were now preparing their lands for rice. The fields, by
means of a raised border, lay almost entirely under water. This was the
case even with those sides of the hills intended for rice. They were
laid out in terraces, the water collected on the higher grounds being
regulated by means of walls or dams, so as to be let on or shut off
at pleasure. There were, also, reservoirs, constructed to retain the
contents of the flooded streams, against occasions of drought. The rice
was sown first very close and thick, and when about six inches high was
transplanted into the fields, in tufts of several plants, placed about
six inches apart. This was done by the women, who waded about in water
at least six inches deep, the men having first turned up the ground
with a hoe. Beautiful white herons followed the laborers, and cleared
the fields of worms. The rice thus planted was reaped in November.

[Illustration: KWANNON, GODDESS OF MERCY]

Fields of wheat, barley (used to feed the horses), buckwheat, East
India kale (_Brassica orientalis_), and mustard (the two latter for
oil) were also seen. These crops, planted in November or December, and
ripe in May or June, were in beds about a foot broad, and separated
from each other by a deep furrow or trench of about the same breadth.
Sometimes they were planted across these narrow beds, and sometimes in
two rows, lengthwise. Thunberg noticed that when the ear was about to
put forth, the plants being grown to the height of a foot, the earth
was taken out from the intervening trenches, and drawn up to the roots
of the plants. About the same time, or a little earlier, the liquid
manure collected in the jars already described, and mingled with all
sorts of refuse, was carried out by the farmers, in large pails, and
poured with a ladle on the roots of the plants; a method which avoids
the waste incident to spreading the manure on unplanted fields, to be
dried up by the sun, or to lose by evaporation its volatile salts and
oily particles.

The fields were kept so free of weeds as to afford, much to Thunberg’s
disappointment, very little chance to botanize. Animals were little
used in agriculture. Only such of the rice-fields as lay low, and
quite under water, were ploughed by oxen,—cows being kept for draft
and breeding only, and never milked. The only wheel carriages seen
were a few carts, and these only in and about Miyako, some with three
wheels,[50] one before the other two, and some two-wheeled. These
carts were long and narrow, the wheels, some with spokes and fellies,
but without any tire, except a rope tied about them, and others of a
solid piece, sawed from a log. They were drawn by an ox, by cows, or
a buffalo. Horses were chiefly for the use of their princes, though
occasionally employed by others for travelling and carrying burdens.
They were not numerous, but Thunberg seems to make rather a close
estimate in saying that all Japan has scarcely as many horses as
a single province of Sweden. There was no occasion for meadows or
pastures, the cattle and horses being fed at home all the year, so that
all the land, not too steep or rocky for cultivation, was devoted to
the raising of crops; nor did the fields require fences. All the manure
of the animals kept was carefully preserved, old men and children
following the horses of travellers, with a shell fastened to the end of
a stick, and a basket in which to put what they collected. Of course
the small number of domestic animals made it the more necessary to
resort to the other means of providing manure already noticed.

A few swine were to be seen, but only in the neighborhood of Nagasaki.
There were no sheep nor goats. A supply of these animals, and also
of cattle and hogs, for the Dutch at Deshima, was brought annually
from Batavia. Dogs, “the only idlers in the country,” were kept from
superstitious motives, and cats were the general favorites of the
women. Hens and ducks were kept about the houses, chiefly for their
eggs, of which the Japanese make great use, boiled hard and chopped
into small pieces.




CHAPTER XL

 _Japanese Merchants—Journey from Miyako to Yedo—Botany of
 the Mountains—Rainy Weather—Coverings for the Head and
 Feet—Yedo—Astronomers and Physicians—Acupuncture—Moxa [Mogusa]—Other
 Japanese Remedies—Method of wearing the Hair—Visits to the Emperor
 and his Chief Officers—Japanese Dress—Books and Maps—Succession of
 Emperors—Departure from Yedo—Gnats—Fire-flies—Threshing—Vegetables
 and Fruits—Condition of the Japanese Farmer—Casting Copper—Actors and
 Dancers—Thunberg’s Opinion of the Japanese—A. D. 1775-1776._


The travellers remained four days at Miyako, during which the
accustomed visits were paid to the chief justice and to the two
governors. A new advance of money was also made to them here,
Thunberg’s share being three hundred taels, in gold koban, to be
charged against the kamban money standing to his credit from the sale
of his private goods, and to be laid out in the purchase of such
rarities and merchandise as he chose. Here, again, the Dutch were
waited on by the merchants, from whom they bespoke several articles
in sowas (?) and lackered ware, to be ready against their return. Of
these Japanese merchants, Thunberg observes that they are the only
persons in the country, except the emperor, who can become rich, and
that they sometimes accumulate very considerable sums; but they cannot,
as in Europe, purchase titles, or raise themselves by their money to a
higher rank. The position of the trading and manufacturing class seems,
indeed, almost precisely the same with that which they held in Europe
during the prevalence of feudal ideas.

Commerce, however, was free from any embarrassments by tolls or duties,
and a considerable internal trade, of which Miyako was the centre
(several annual fairs being held there), was carried on in tea, silk
goods, porcelain, rice, lackered ware, etc.

Setting out from Miyako on the fourteenth of April, the travellers,
in passing lake Ōtsu, were treated to a delicious fish, of the salmon
kind, the largest of which seen by Thunberg weighed about ten pounds.
Finding, in the course of their journey, that this species of fish was
often served up, they ordered some to be smoked, against their return;
but they did not prove equal to European salmon, either in size,
fatness, or style of curing. The country still continued as populous
as before. In the villages were many almond, peach, and apricot trees,
which now presented a very beautiful appearance, blossoming on the
bare branches before the leaves unfolded. These, as well as the plum,
cherry, apple, and pear[51] trees, sometimes bore double flowers, upon
which the Japanese put a high value.

The road having brought them to the sea-shore, Thunberg observed the
_Fucus saccharinus_, called by the Japanese _Kombu_, or sometimes
_Noshi_. Cleansed and dried, it is eaten, though very tough, either
boiled or raw,—in the latter case cut into strips, which are folded in
little squares, a considerable number of which are usually strewed on
the little tables, or salvers, on which the complimentary presents,
so common with the Japanese, are offered. These presents, generally of
trifling value, are always accompanied with a complimentary paper (so
called), folded in a peculiar manner, and having slips of this fucus
pasted to both ends of it.

The mountain, Fuji, was now in sight, and presently the mountainous
tract of Hakone was entered, separating the bays of Tōtōmi and Yedo.
It took a day to cross these mountains, which were covered with bushes
and forest trees, and were the only hills in Japan, except those close
to Nagasaki, which Thunberg was permitted freely to wander over and
examine. “This day,” he says, “I was seldom in my norimono; but in
the same degree as I eased my bearers of their burden, I rendered the
journey troublesome to the interpreters, and more particularly to the
inferior officers, who, by rotation, were to follow my steps. I was not
allowed, indeed, to go far out of the road, but having been previously
used to run up rocks in the African mountains, I frequently got to a
considerable distance before my anxious and panting followers, and
thereby gained time to gather a great many of the most curious and
scarcest plants, which had just begun to flower, and which I put in my
handkerchief.”

Among the trees growing in this tract was the _Thuya dolebrata_,
planted everywhere by the road-side, tall, straight, and with leaves
of silver-white on their under sides,—in Thunberg’s opinion the
handsomest of the fir tribe. There were no less than six peculiar
species of maple, all of great beauty. Cedars (_Cupressus japonica_),
a common tree throughout the country, grew here in great perfection.
The straightest and tallest of the firs, their trunks ran up straight
as a candle, and, being both light and very durable, the timber was
employed for all sorts of constructions, and also for cabinet work,
the veins showing to advantage when covered with varnish. The wood of
this tree, next to the _Pinus silvestris_, is that most employed by
carpenters, etc. He also observed several species of oaks,[52] the
common barberry, in full blossom, several species of the _Vaccinia_, or
whortleberry, a wild pear-tree, a shrub with leaves so rough that they
are used for polishing by the joiners, the _Oryris japonica_, bearing
its flowers at the middle of its leaves; also, several beautiful
flowering shrubs, _Viburna_, with double as well as single flowers,
two species of _Spirea_, the _Citrus tripoliata_, and the _Gardenia
Florida_, of which the seed-vessels afforded a yellow dye. The dragon
lily (_Arum dracontium_), and the edible species of the same plant
(_Arum esculentum_), the eddo, or tania, of the West Indies, and taro,
of the Sandwich Islands (_Caladium_ in more recent classifications),
were cultivated in some spots.

By night the sea-shore was again reached, at Odawara, whence two days’
journey took them to Yedo, where they arrived, on account of the delay
in the sea voyage, at a period unusually late, but which Thunberg
notes as an advantage, since it gave him, both going and returning, a
better opportunity to observe the vegetation of the country. During
the journey there had been rain sometimes, but not too often, and the
cold had been such as occasionally to make fires very comfortable.
The Japanese, he observed, bore the cold better than the rain, which
did not altogether agree with their bare feet and heads. For the feet
they used only slippers of rice straw,[53] left at the door whenever
they entered a house, consisting of a sole, without upper leather or
hind-piece (kept on by a thong, or strap, held fast between the toes),
and soon soaked and spoiled by the rain, on which occasion, indeed,
high wooden clogs were sometimes substituted. Ordinarily, even while
travelling, no covering for the head was worn, but in hard rains they
used an umbrella, a hat of plaited grass, and a cloak of oil-paper, for
which the poorer class substituted a piece of straw matting, thrown
over their backs.

The weather, during a stay of twenty-six days at Yedo, from April 28
to May 25, was often damp, almost every day cloudy, with sometimes
drizzling, and sometimes heavy, rain. Several slight shocks of
earthquake were felt. Several fires occurred, which were soon
extinguished. A great fire, during the Dutch visit of 1772, had burned
from noon till eight at night, spreading over a vast space, and making
it necessary to remove the Dutch three times.

Down to the day of audience, which did not take place till the 18th
of May, the Dutch were not suffered to go out. Numbers of persons
obtained, however, permission to visit them. The first who called were
five physicians and two astronomers, prompted especially by Thunberg’s
scientific reputation, which the interpreters had noised abroad, and
who were very inquisitive on various points of science. The questions
of the astronomers related principally to eclipses, which it appeared
they could not calculate to minutes, and frequently not even to hours;
but besides the difficulty of carrying on this conversation through
interpreters, another arose, from the fact that Thunberg’s astronomy
had grown a little rusty, and that neither he nor the Japanese had any
books to which they could refer.

In matters of medicine[54] he felt more at home, especially as two of
the Japanese doctors could speak Dutch,—one of them tolerably well.
They also had some knowledge of natural history, collected partly
from Chinese and Dutch books, and partly from the Dutch physicians
who had visited Yedo, but who frequently had not been very well able
to instruct them, as they were often, to use Thunberg’s expression,
“little better than horse-doctors.” One of the two Japanese, quite
a young man, was the emperor’s body-physician; the other, somewhat
older and better informed, was physician to one of the chief princes.
Both were good-natured, acute, and lively. They attached themselves
to Thunberg with great zeal, coming to see him every day, and often
staying late at night. Though wearisome with their questions, yet so
insinuating were they in their manners and anxious to learn, that our
traveller found much pleasure in their society. They had a number
of Dutch works on botany, medicine, and surgery, and Thunberg sold
them some others. They were particularly struck with the fine set of
surgical instruments which he had brought from Amsterdam and Paris.
These medical friends were of great use to him in his studies in
natural history. Among the botanical specimens which they brought him
were the pine of Europe (_Pinus abies_), of which, as well as of the
_Pinus silvestris_, he had seen several on his journey to court, the
chestnut, which he saw afterwards at Miyako, on his return, and the
walnut (_Jugulans nigra_). They also brought him a variety of ores
and minerals, and specimens of fishes and insects.

[Illustration: SCENES AMONG THE SILK WORKERS: REELING; THE CULTURE OF
THE WORMS]

The Japanese, he found, knew nothing of anatomy or physiology. They
were ignorant of the circulation of the blood, feeling the pulse for a
quarter of an hour, first in one arm and then in the other, not knowing
that both beat alike. Bleeding they very seldom practised; of the
use of mercury they knew nothing; and, notwithstanding what Thunberg
relates of the cures effected under his direction, by the use of
corrosive sublimate, it may be doubted how much benefit he conferred by
the introduction of that remedy, or by the present which he made to his
“beloved pupils” of “his silver-spring lancet,” with instructions how
to use it.

The two great remedies of the Japanese are acupuncture and burning
with the moxa [_mogusa_], the former chiefly practised in a violent
colic endemic to the country. According to the Japanese theory, it is
caused by wind, and to let out this wind several small holes—nine being
a favorite number—are made with needles, prepared for the purpose,
generally in the muscles of the stomach or abdomen, though other
fleshy parts of the body are, in some cases, chosen for the operation.
These needles are nearly as fine as a hair, made of gold and silver
generally, but sometimes of steel, by persons who profess a particular
skill in tempering them. The bony parts, nerves, and blood-vessels
are carefully avoided, and while they are passed through the skin and
muscle, they are twirled about in a peculiar manner. There are many
practitioners who confine themselves to this practice alone.[55]

A still more favorite and universal remedy, employed quite as much for
prevention as cure, is burning with the moxa [_mogusa_],—the finer
woolly part of the young leaves of the wormwood (_Artemisia_), of
which the coarser kind is used for ordinary tinder. It is procured
by ribbing and beating the leaves till the green part separates and
nothing remains but the wool, which is sorted into two kinds. When
applied, it is made up in little cones, which, being placed on the part
selected for the operation, are set fire to from the top. They burn
very slowly, leaving a scar or blister on the skin, which, some time
after, breaks and discharges. The operation is not very painful, except
when repeated in the same place, as it sometimes is, or when applied
to certain tender parts. It is thought very efficacious in pleurisies,
toothache, gout, and rheumatism,—disorders which, like the colic above
mentioned, are rapid in their operation, and of which the paroxysms
tend to a speedy termination under any medical treatment or none at
all. The Japanese have very elaborate treatises as to the effects
produced by the moxa, according to the part to which it is applied, and
its application forms a science and profession by itself. The fleshy
parts, especially of the back, are ordinarily selected. It is used
still more by way of prevention than for cure, every person, young and
old, male and female, even prisoners in the jails, submitting to the
operation at least once in six months[56]. Another remedy is friction,
applied by certain professors, and which proves of great use in pains
of the limbs, arising from the prevailing vicissitudes of the weather.
Internal remedies are generally exhibited in the form of simple
decoctions, diuretic or sudorific. Wonderful virtues are ascribed to
certain drugs; and, on the whole, the Japanese appear, as in the use
of unicorn’s horn and ginseng, to have been not less deluded by quack
medicines and medical theories than more enlightened nations.[57]

The doctors, like the priests, are distinguished from other people
by the fashion of wearing their hair. Thunberg states in one place
that they shaved the whole head; in another, that they had the option
of retaining all their hair, like the boys and women. According to
Titsingh, physicians shave the head, and surgeons wear the hair. Of
surgery, however, they know next to nothing.

All the male Japanese who are neither priests nor physicians, from the
time the beard begins to grow, shave the head from the forehead to
the nape of the neck. The little hair left about the neck and on the
temples is well oiled, turned up in a cue, and tied with several rounds
of white string made of paper. The hair above the tie is cut off,
leaving about the length of a finger, which, being stiffened with a
sort of pomatum, is so bent that the tip of it is made to stand against
the crown of the head. This arrangement is strictly attended to, the
head being shaved every day, that the stumps of the growing hair may
not disfigure it.

Women who have parted with their husbands also shave their heads—at
least Thunberg met with one such instance; but, in general, the women
retain all their hair, which they make smooth with oil and mucilaginous
substances, and either put close to the head all round, or else (in
the case of single women and serving-maids) make it stand in puffs
on each side of the face. The ends are fastened together in a knob
at the crown of the head, just before which is stuck a large comb,
made, in the case of the poorer people, of lackered boxwood, and
among the richer of tortoise-shell. The rich wear also several long
ornaments of tortoise-shell, stuck through this knob, which, with a
few flowers, constitute the whole of their head decorations. “Vanity,”
says Thunberg, “has not yet taken root among them to that degree as to
induce them to wear rings or other ornaments in their ears. No caps,
hats, or bonnets are worn, except a conical cap, made of reeds, when
travelling. Otherwise the parasol or fan is all the shelter they use
against the sun or the rain.”

The official visits are thus described by Thunberg: “We were dressed
in the European fashion, but in costly silks, interwoven with silver
and laced with gold. On account of the festivity of the day it was
requisite for us to wear our swords and a very large black silk cloak.
We were carried a considerable distance through the town before we
arrived at the emperor’s residence. This is surrounded by fosses and
stone walls, and separated by draw-bridges. It forms a considerable
town of itself, and is said to be five leagues in circumference,
comprising the emperor’s private palace, as also that of the hereditary
prince, each separated from the other by wide fosses, stone walls,
gates, and other bulwarks. In the outermost citadel, which was the
largest of all, were large and handsome covered streets and great
houses, which belonged to the princes of the country, the privy
councillors, and other officers of state. Their numerous families, who
were obliged likewise to remain at the court the whole year throughout,
were also lodged here. At the first gate there was a strong guard.
That at the second gate was said to consist of a thousand men.[58] As
soon as we had passed through this gate, having previously quitted our
norimono, we were conducted to an apartment, where we waited a full
hour. At last, having obtained leave to approach the imperial palace,
we passed through a long lane of soldiers, who were posted on both
sides quite up to the door of the palace, all armed and well clothed.

“The emperor’s private palace was situated on an eminence, and although
it consisted of one story only, still it was much higher than any
other house, and covered a large tract of ground. We were immediately
conducted into an antechamber, where we again waited at least an
hour. Our officers sat down in the Japanese manner on one side, and
the Dutchmen, together with the interpreters, on the other. It proved
extremely fatiguing to us to sit in their manner; and, as we could not
hold it out long thus, we put our legs out on one side and covered them
with our long cloaks, which in this respect were of great service to us.

“The time we waited here did not appear long, as great numbers of
people passed in and out, both in order to look at us and talk with
us. We were visited by several princes of the country, but constantly
_incognito_, though we could always perceive when they were coming,
from the murmuring noise which was at first heard from the inner rooms,
and the silence that ensued upon it. Their curiosity was carried to a
great length in everything; but the chief employment they found for us
was to let them see our mode of writing. We were thus induced to write
something either on paper or on their fans. Some of them showed us fans
on which the Dutch had formerly written, and which they had carefully
treasured up as great rarities.

“At last the instant arrived when the ambassador was to have audience,
at which the ceremony was totally different from that which was used in
Kämpfer’s time, we remaining in the apartment into which we had been
ushered.

“After the return of the ambassador we were again obliged to stay a
long while in the antechamber, in order to receive the visits and
answer the questions of several of the courtiers, several times during
whose entrance a deep silence prevailed. Among these, it was said,
his imperial majesty had likewise come _incognito_, in order to have
a nearer view of the Dutch and their dress.[59] The interpreters and
officers had spared no pains to find out, through the medium of their
friends, everything that could tend to our information in this respect.
The emperor was of a middle size, hale constitution, and about forty
and odd years of age.

“At length, after all the visits were ended, we obtained leave to see
several rooms in the palace, and also that in which the ambassador had
had audience, and which has already been described.

“The ambassador was conducted by the outside of the anteroom and along
a boarded passage to the audience-room, which opened by a sliding-door.
The inner room consisted, in a manner, of three rooms, one a step
higher than the other, and, according to the measure I took of them by
my eye, when afterwards permitted to view them, of about ten paces each
in length, so that the distance between the emperor and the ambassador
might be about thirty paces. The emperor, as I was informed, stood
during the audience, in the most interior part of the room, as did the
hereditary prince likewise, at his right hand. To the right of this
room was a large saloon, the floor of which was covered by a hundred
mats, and hence called the hundred-mat saloon. It is six hundred feet
long and three hundred broad,[60] and is occupied by the most dignified
men of the empire, privy councillors, and princes, who all, on similar
occasions, take their seats according to their different ranks and
dignity. To the left, in the audience-room, lay the presents, sent
beforehand, and piled up in heaps. The whole of the audience consists
merely in this, that, as soon as the ambassador enters the room, he
falls on his hands, lays his hand on the mat, and bows his head down to
it, in the same manner as the Japanese themselves are used to testify
their subjection and respect. After this the ambassador rises, and is
conducted back to the anteroom the same way that he came.

“The rest of the rooms which we viewed had no furniture in them. The
floors were covered with large and very white straw mats; the cornices
and doors were handsomely lackered, and the locks, hinges, etc., well
gilt.

“After having thus looked about us, we were conducted to the hereditary
prince’s palace, which stood close by, and was separated only by a
bridge. Here we were received and complimented in the name of the
hereditary prince, who was not at home; after which we were conducted
back to our norimono.

[Illustration: INDUSTRIAL WORKERS: AN UMBRELLA-MAKER; A CHARCOAL VENDER]

“Although the day was already far advanced, and we had had sufficient
time to digest our early breakfast, we were nevertheless obliged to
pay visits to all the privy councillors, as well to the six ordinary as
to the six extraordinary, at each of their respective houses. And as
these gentlemen were not yet returned from court, we were received in
the most polite manner by their deputies, and exhibited to the view of
their ladies and children. Each visit lasted half an hour; and we were
for the most part so placed in a large room that we could be viewed on
all sides through thin curtains, without having the good fortune to get
a sight of these court beauties, excepting at one place, where they
made so free as not only to take away the curtain, but also desired
us to advance nearer. In general we were received by two gentlemen in
office, and at every place treated with green tea, the apparatus for
smoking, and pastry, which was set before each of us, separately, on
small tables. We drank sometimes a cup of the boiled tea, but did not
touch the tobacco, and the pastry was taken home through the prudent
care of our interpreters.

“I shall never forget the delightful prospect we had during these
visits, from an eminence that commanded a view of the whole of this
large and extensive town, which the Japanese affirm to be twenty-one
leagues, or as many hours’ walk, in circumference. The evening drew
nigh by the time that we returned, weary and worn out, to our inn.

“On the following day (May 19) we paid our respects to the temple
lords, as they are called, the two governors of the town, and the
two commissaries of strangers. A few days elapsed after this before
we received our audience of leave. This was given, in a very summary
manner, on the 23d following, and only before the lords in council
appointed for this purpose. The intervening days were employed in
receiving presents and preparing for our departure. At the audience
of leave the gowns or Japanese dresses, intended as presents for the
Dutch East India Company, were delivered. The presents destined for us
were carried to our inns. Every ordinary privy councillor gives, the
day after the audience of leave, ten gowns; every extraordinary privy
councillor, six; every temple lord, five; and every commissary, and the
governor of Nagasaki, two. Of these our _banjoshu_ (the officers called
by Kämpfer bugiō and deputy-bugiō,—the conductors of the journey)
received two; the secretary and myself, two apiece; and the ambassador,
four. The rest are packed up for the company’s account.”[61]

Of these gowns, the universal and almost only article of Japanese
dress[62], Thunberg, in another place, gives the following account:
“They are long and wide, and worn, one or more of them, by people of
every age and condition in life. The rich have them of the finest silk,
and the poor of cotton. The women wear them reaching down to their
feet, and the women of quality frequently with a train. Those of the
men come down to their heels; but travellers, together with soldiers
and laboring people, either tuck them up or wear them so short that
they only reach to their knees. The men generally have them made of
plain silk of one color; but the silken stuffs worn by the women are
flowered, sometimes in gold. In the summer they are either without
any lining at all, or else with a thin lining only. In winter, by way
of defence against the cold weather, they are quilted with cotton or
silk wad. The men seldom wear many of them, but the women often from
thirty to fifty or more, and all so thin that together they hardly
weigh more than four or five pounds. The undermost serves for a shirt,
and is therefore either white or bluish, and for the most part thin
and transparent. All these gowns are fastened about the waist by a
belt, which for the men is about the breadth of a hand, and for the
women of twelve inches, and of such length as to go twice round the
body, with a large knot and rose. The knot worn by the fair sex, which
is larger than that worn by the men, shows immediately whether the
woman is married or not; as the married women wear the knot before,
and the single behind. The men fasten to this belt their sabres,[63]
fan, tobacco pipe and pouch. The gowns are rounded off about the neck,
without a cape, open before, and show the bare bosom, which is never
covered, either with a handkerchief or anything else. The sleeves are
ill-shaped, wide and long, the openings partly sewed up, so as to form
a bag, into which they put their hands in cold weather, or use it as
a pocket to hold their papers and other things.[64] Young girls, in
particular, have the sleeves of their gowns so long as frequently to
reach quite down to the ground. On account of the width of their
garments, they are soon dressed and undressed, as they have nothing
more to do than to untie their girdle and draw in their arms when the
whole of their dress instantly falls off of itself. The gowns serve
also for bedclothes. The common people, when at work, are frequently
seen naked, with only a girdle about them, or with their gowns taken
off the upper part of their bodies, and hanging down loose from their
girdles. Men of a higher rank wear over the long gowns a shorter one,
made of some thin stuff, such as gauze. As to the neck and sleeves of
it, they are like those of the other, but it reaches only to the waist,
and is not fastened with a girdle, but tied before and at the top with
a string. This half-gown is sometimes of a yellow, but most frequently
of a black color, and is laid aside at home, or in any place where no
superior is present.”

As the Japanese ordinarily wear no covering for the legs, feet, or
head, the above-described gowns constitute their entire dress, except
upon occasions of ceremony, when a complimentary dress, or honor-gown,
_kamishimo_ as they call it, is added to it. This complimentary dress
consists of a frock, generally of a blue stuff, with white flowers
about half the length of the gown, and made much in the same way, but
carried on each side back over the shoulders, so as to give a very
broad-shouldered appearance to the wearer. To this, with persons of a
certain rank, is added, as part of the dress of ceremony, a garment
half breeches, half petticoat, as if it were a petticoat sewed up
between the legs, but left open at the sides for two thirds their
length, fastened about the waist by a band, and reaching to the ankles.

Before leaving Yedo, Thunberg purchased a number of botanical books,
containing very indifferent figures of plants, as did another botanical
work, in twenty thin octavo volumes, presented to him by one of his
medical pupils. But a large printed[65] quarto, which he purchased,
contained figures of Japanese fishes, engraved and colored in such
superior style as to be able to compete with similar European works.
He also procured, though the selling such things to strangers was
strictly prohibited, a map of Japan, with plans of Yedo, Miyako, and
Nagasaki, exactly like those brought away by Kämpfer, and engraved in
his work. Just before his departure, at the request of his two pupils
in medicine, he gave them a certificate in Dutch, of their proficiency,
with which they were as highly delighted as ever a young doctor was
with his diploma. A warm friendship had sprang up between him and them,
and, even after Thunberg’s return to Europe, a correspondence was
kept up and presents exchanged for some years, down at least to the
publication of his travels.

According to Thunberg, the personages composing the imperial court
were in his time so little known that very few people in the whole
empire were acquainted with their names. M. Feith, the director whom he
accompanied to Yedo, and who had been on the same embassy four times
before, and had lived in Japan fourteen years, was obliged to confess
at table, after their return to Batavia, being inquired of as to the
name of the reigning emperor, that he did not know it, and never had
heard it.[66] It was only through the friendship of his medical pupils
at Yedo, and of the chief interpreter, that he obtained a knowledge
of it, and also a list of the emperors since Kämpfer’s time, which he
gives as follows:

1681, TSUNAYOSHI (reigning when Kämpfer left Japan, and for twelve or
thirteen years previously).

1709, IYENOBU.

1713, IYETSUGU.

1716, YOSHIMUNE.

1745, IYESHIGE.

1760, IYEHARU,[67] who continued to reign at the time of Thunberg’s
departure, being the forty-first in succession from Yoritomo, and ninth
from Iyeyasu, otherwise Daifu-Sama, and Ōgosho-Sama, or, as he was
called after his death, Gongen-Sama, by whom the reigning dynasty had
been established.

Thunberg left Yedo on his return the 25th of May. The weather being
rainy, they were a good deal molested by gnats, against which they
had to protect themselves by gauze curtains. The Japanese fire-flies,
so much more brilliant and active than the European glow-worm, were
noticed with admiration.

At this season the first gathering was made of the tea-leaves, yet
quite young and yielding the finer kinds of tea. He observed in some
places the leaves carelessly spread before the houses on mats to dry.
He also observed the farmers, in several places, threshing barley,
wheat, and mustard seed on similar mats, with flails having three
swingels, or sometimes by beating the ears against a tub. To separate
the exterior husk from the rice, it was pounded by hand in a kind of
mortar, or by means of a machine consisting of a number of pestles
set in motion by a water-wheel, or by a man’s foot. After the wheat
and barley were gathered, French beans (_Phaseoli_) were sown for a
second crop. He observed many kinds of peas and beans cultivated,
especially the _Dolichos soia_, not only used for making soy, but
the chief ingredients of a soup, a daily dish with most classes. The
_Dolichos polystachos_, which ran winding like scarlet beans, was
employed for arbors. Its flowers, hanging down from long stalks, were
very ornamental, and appeared in succession for a long period. He
mentions, also, lettuce, melons both with red and white pulp, pumpkins,
cucumbers, eaten both raw and pickled, gourds, employed for flasks,
mushrooms, very much used, especially for soups and sauces, Seville
and China oranges, lemons, shaddocks, medlars (_Mespillus japonica_),
a large sort of persimmon (_Dyosperos kaki_), grapes, pomegranates,
Spanish figs (_Cactus ficus_), chestnuts, and walnuts.[68] The
condition of the Japanese farmer Thunberg contrasts very favorably with
that of the Swedish agriculturalist, overloaded as the latter was with
feudal burdens, though doubtless he knew better these burdens, which
he indignantly enumerates, than he did the grievances of the Japanese
cultivator.

At Ōsaka he saw the smelting of copper from the ores obtained in that
neighborhood, and the method of casting it into bars. A mould was made
for this purpose, by digging a hole in the ground a foot deep, across
which were laid ten square iron bars, barely a finger’s breadth apart.
A strip of sail-cloth was spread over these bars and forced down. The
hole was then filled with water, and the melted metal, smelted from
the ore, was dipped up in iron ladles and poured into this mould, thus
forming each time ten or eleven thin plates. To this method of casting
he ascribes its high color.

Thunberg had an opportunity of seeing Japanese plays, both at Ōsaka,
on his return from Miyako, and at Nagasaki, during the annual Matsuri
in honor of Suwa, which he attended. “The spectators,” he says, “sit
in houses of different dimensions, on benches. Facing them, upon an
elevated but small and narrow place, stands the theatre itself, upon
which seldom more than one or two actors perform at a time. These are
always dressed in a very singular manner, according as their own taste
and fancy suggest, insomuch that a stranger would be apt to believe
that they exhibited themselves not to entertain, but to frighten, the
audience. Their gestures as well as their dress are strangely uncouth
and extravagant, and consist in artificial contortions of the body,
which it must have cost them much trouble to learn and perform. In
general they represent some heroic exploit, or love story, of their
idols and heroes, which are frequently composed in verse, and are
sometimes accompanied with music. A curtain may, it is true, be let
fall between the actors and the spectators, and some necessary pieces
be brought forward upon the theatre; but in other respects these small
theatres have no machinery nor decorations which can entitle them to be
put in comparison with those of Europe.

[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW OF A TYPICAL JAPANESE HOUSE]

“When the Japanese wish at any time to entertain the Dutch, either in
the town of Nagasaki, or more particularly during their journey to the
imperial court, they generally provide a band of female dancers, for
the amusement of their guests. These are generally young damsels, very
superbly dressed, whom they fetch from the inns; sometimes young boys
likewise are mixed among them. Such a dance requires always a number
of persons, who turn and twine, and put themselves into a variety of
artificial postures, in order to represent an amorous or heroic deed,
without either speaking or singing. Their steps are, however, regulated
by the music which plays to them. These girls are provided with a
number of very fine and light gowns, made of silk, which they slip off
one after another, during the dance, from the upper part of their body,
so as frequently to leave them, to the number of a dozen together,
suspended from the girdle which encircles their loins.”

Though the view taken by Thunberg of the Japanese presents them perhaps
not quite so high in the scale of civilization as Kämpfer’s, yet he is
scarcely less their admirer, coinciding, indeed, in this respect, with
most of the Europeans who have left any memorials of their observations
in Japan. He notes especially their courtesy, friendly disposition,
ingenuity, love of knowledge, justice, honesty, frugality, cleanliness,
and self-respect; and he emphatically repudiates the conclusion that,
because the laws are severe and strictly executed, the people are
therefore to be regarded as slaves. These laws are for the public good,
and their severity ensures their observance. “The Japanese,” he tells
us, “hate and detest the inhuman traffic in slaves carried on by the
Dutch, and the cruelty with which these poor creatures are treated.”

In common with Kämpfer he admires and extols the immutability of
the Japanese laws and customs; but this seems hardly so legitimate a
subject of eulogy as the peace in which the empire is kept, the plenty
which is said to prevail,[69] and its freedom as well from internal
feuds, political or religious, as from foreign encroachments.

Thunberg’s “Flora Japonica” describes about a thousand species, of
which upwards of three hundred were new. In the preface to it he
speaks of the Japanese Islands as chiefly hills and valleys, with high
mountains. Plains and meadows are rare. The soil is now clayey and
now sandy. The summer heat is great, especially in July and August,
sometimes one hundred degrees of Fahrenheit, and scarcely tolerable but
for the breeze. In winter the thermometer, even in the most southern
parts, falls many degrees below the freezing-point, especially with the
wind from the north and west, with ice and snow, which on the highest
mountains remains all the year round. The changes in the weather are
great and sudden; violent storms with thunder and lightning are common.
The rains are abundant throughout the year, and especially so in spring
and summer, whence in part the fertility of Japan, mainly due, however,
to careful cultivation.




CHAPTER XLI

 _Isaac Titsingh—His Residence in Japan—Translations from the
 Japanese—Annals of the Dairi—Memoirs of the Shōgun—Liberal Ideas
 in Japan—Marriage Ceremonies—Funeral Ceremonies—Mourning—Feast of
 Lanterns—A. D. 1779-1791._


Soon after Thunberg’s departure, he had a worthy successor in the
person of Mr. Isaac Titsingh, the first director at Deshima since the
time of Caron to whom we are indebted for any information about Japan.
Born about 1740, Titsingh had entered early into the service of the
Dutch East India Company. After seven years’ residence at Batavia, he
was sent to Deshima, as director, where he arrived August 15, 1779,
and remained till November 29, 1780, when he returned to Batavia. He
came back again to Japan August 12, 1781, and remained till November 6,
1783, the war between Holland and England, growing out of the American
revolution, having prevented the arrival of any ships from Batavia
during the year 1782,—an event of which Titsingh took advantage to
stipulate for a considerable advance in the price of Dutch imports, for
a term of fifteen years. He reached Nagasaki a third time, August 18,
1784, but left again November 26 of the same year. During his first and
second visits he made the journey to Yedo as Dutch ambassador, where he
succeeded in making several friends, particularly Kuchiki Samon, prince
of Tamba, who had learned Dutch, which he wrote tolerably well, with
whom, and other Japanese friends, Titsingh kept up a correspondence
for some time after leaving the country.

During his residence in Japan he made a valuable collection of Japanese
curiosities, including many Japanese books, and he also brought home
with him translations of some of these books, made by aid of Japanese
interpreters attached to the factory at Deshima, whose interpretations,
given _viva voce_, he wrote out in Dutch; for though Titsingh knew
enough of Japanese for the purposes of conversation, he does not seem
to have acquired the written language, nor to have been able to read
Chinese, of which the characters are largely, and, indeed, chiefly,
employed in most Japanese works of much pretensions. “I found,” he
says, “among the interpreters belonging to our factory four individuals
sufficiently well-informed for my purpose; a fifth had devoted
himself chiefly to medicine, in which he had made rapid progress, in
consequence of the instruction given to him by Dr. Thunberg. Far from
finding them suspicious and reluctant, as Europeans are usually pleased
to represent these persons, in order to palliate their own indolence,
they manifested, on the contrary, an eagerness to procure for me every
practicable information, to consult, in various matters beyond their
capacity, the best-informed individuals among the magistrates and
clergy, and to furnish me with books which might serve as a guide to my
labors.”

After leaving Japan, Titsingh was governor at the Dutch factory at
Chinsurah, in Bengal, where he became acquainted with Sir William
Jones. In 1794 he was sent, with Van Braam, on a Dutch embassy to
Pekin, with the design to counterwork the English embassy of Lord
Macartney; but this residence in China was limited to a few months.

Returning to Europe, after a residence in the East of thirty-three
years, Titsingh designed to publish the result of his Japanese
researches, in both Dutch and French; but, before having done it, he
died at Paris, in 1812, leaving his large fortune and his collections
and manuscripts to an only child of his, by an Eastern woman, by whom
the fortune was soon spent, and the manuscripts and curiosities sold
and scattered, though some of them ultimately fell into appreciating
hands.[70]

Among his translations, the one to which Titsingh ascribed the greatest
importance was that of the “Nippon Ōdai Ichiran,” an abridged Japanese
chronicle, from 600 B. C. to A. D. 1611, compiled in the year 1652,
and printed at Miyako. Having been carefully compared by Klaproth
with the original,—a task, as he says, from the manifold defects of
Titsingh’s version, almost equivalent to a new translation,—and having
been enriched with an introduction, a supplement and notes, this
work was published in 1834, in French, at the expense of the Oriental
Translation Fund, under the title of “Annales des Empereurs du Japan.”

Though highly valuable as a specimen of what Japanese histories are,
and though Klaproth’s introduction and notes contain some curious
information, this performance is, on the whole, exceedingly dry, while
it adds but little to the abstract given by Kämpfer of this or some
other similar work. A criticism which Titsingh himself makes upon it,
in a letter to the prince of Tamba, to whom he had intended to dedicate
his translation, is worthy of notice, as going to show how little, with
all its formal precision of years and months, the earlier Japanese
chronology is entitled to historical respect.

“Must we not suppose,” says Titsingh, “that the Japanese, so jealous
of their neighbors, the Chinese, have, in writing their own history,
endeavored to fill up many gaps in it by prolonging the reigns of
their earlier Dairi? There is in your history a period of one thousand
and sixty-one years occupied by the reigns of only sixteen Dairi. The
duration of the life of Jimmu, of the reigns of Kōan, of Suijin, and
the life of Ōjin, appear altogether improbable. The first died at the
age of one hundred and twenty-seven years. The second reigned one
hundred and two years, the third ninety-nine years. The last lived one
hundred and ten years. These statements are too extraordinary to be
blindly believed. Grant, even, that a chaste and frugal way of living
may have secured for these princes a very advanced age, but how does it
happen that, after Nintoku Tennō (the seventeenth Dairi), none exceeded
the ordinary limit of human life?

The Japanese still cling with tenacity to the formal recognition of the
absolute rights of the Dairi. With as much warmth as a loyal Englishman
would exhibit in maintaining the actual sovereignty of Queen Victoria,
they insisted to Titsingh—and the same thing afterwards occurred to
Golownin—that Europeans were mistaken in applying the term “emperor” to
the Shōgun, the Dairi being the only legal emperor, and the Shōgun but
an officer to whom the Dairi had entrusted the administration.[71]

The annual visit of the Shōgun to the Dairi, made in Caron’s time, had
been discontinued; but mutual embassies are still exchanged, and the
envoys sent from the Dairi are received by the Shōgun as if they were
the Dairi himself. The Shōgun goes to meet them, and conducts them to
the hall of audience, where he performs the kitō, bending before them
till his head touches the mats, as if they were the very Dairi. This
homage finished, the Shōgun resumes his rank, and the ambassadors then
perform the kitō to him. During their stay they are entertained by two
persons, who, from the allowance made for it, find this office very
lucrative. The ambassadors also receive rich presents, not only at
Yedo, but all along the route, and the attendance upon this service,
even in an inferior capacity, is so lucrative as to be eagerly coveted
by the poor courtiers of the Dairi. Titsingh encountered one of these
embassies on his return from Yedo, in 1782, and was obliged to stop a
whole day, and to lodge in a citizen’s house, all the horses, porters,
and inns being taken up by the embassy. However poor and powerless,
the courtiers of the Dairi still enjoy all the outward observances
of superior rank. The first princes of the empire must pay them the
homage of the kitō, and must lay aside their two swords in their
presence. For this reason, these princes, in going and returning to
Yedo, carefully avoid passing through Miyako.

A more interesting publication, from the manuscript of Titsingh, and
one which appeared earlier, is “Memoirs of the Djogouns” [Shōguns],
which had itself been preceded by a number of other pieces,
translations and originals.[72] These memoirs profess to be compiled
from Japanese manuscripts, of which Titsingh gives the following
account: “Since the accession of Gongen, founder of the present
dynasty, the printing of any work relating to the government has been
prohibited. The curious, however, possess manuscript accounts of all
the remarkable events that have occurred. These manuscripts are in
great request. The conduct of persons of elevated rank is sometimes as
freely censured in them as it would be in any country in Europe. The
obstructions which the government throws in the way of the publication
of historical works prevent these works from being known, and thus
obviate whatever might make an obnoxious impression on the minds of the
people, and endanger the interests of the reigning dynasty, as well
as the tranquillity of the empire. From some of these manuscripts are
extracted the particulars here submitted to the public. The Japanese,
to whom they belong, keep them carefully concealed, so that it is
difficult to procure a sight of them. If I was fortunate enough to
obtain the communication of those from which I have extracted such
curious notes, I am indebted for it to the ardent zeal with which my
friends assisted me in all my researches.” M. Abel Rémusat, the learned
Orientalist, who, at the request of the French publisher, prefixed
some preliminary observations to this publication, observes that,
“Thanks to the pains M. Titsingh has taken, we shall outstrip the
Japanese themselves, and, by an extraordinary singularity, we shall be
earlier and better informed than they concerning the events of their
own history.” This publication in Europe of Japanese history is not,
however, so much a singularity as M. Rémusat seems to suppose. The
letters of the Jesuit missionaries furnished contemporary details of
Japanese history extending over a period of more than seventy years,
and including the establishment of the present system of government,
far more full and authentic, we may well believe, than anything which
the Japanese themselves possess, and far exceeding anything contained
in this book of Titsingh’s whom M. Rémusat, perhaps in rather too
complimentary a spirit, places on a level with Kämpfer, and in advance
of Thunberg, as a contributor to our knowledge of Japan.

The memoirs of the Shōguns, made up of detached fragments, in
general very jejune, contain, however, a few anecdotes, which serve
to illustrate the ideas and manners of the Japanese. The Kubō-Sama
reigning in Kämpfer’s time is stated to have been stabbed, in 1709,
by his wife, a daughter of the Dairi, because, being childless, he
persisted in selecting as his successor a person very disagreeable to
all the princes—an act which causes her memory to be held in high honor.

One of the longest of these fragments relates to an alleged
conspiracy, in the year 1767, against the reigning Shōgun, for which
a number of persons suffered death. There is, also, an account of an
extensive volcanic eruption, which took place in September, 1783, in
the interior of the island of Nippon, in the province of Shinano,
northwest of Yedo and north of Ōsaka. The mountain Asama vomited
sand, ashes, and pumice-stones; the rivers flowing from it were
heated boiling-hot, and their dammed-up waters inundated the country.
Twenty-seven villages were swallowed up, and many people perished.

The councillor of state, Tanuma Yamashiro-no-Kami, was assassinated the
next year (1784), in the emperor’s palace; but of this event, and of
others connected with it, Titsingh gives a fuller explanation in his
Introduction to the Japanese “Marriage Ceremonies.” He there informs us
that “though many Japanese of the highest distinction, and intimately
acquainted with matters of government, still consider Japan as the
first empire of the world, and care but little for what passes out of
it, yet such persons are denominated by the more enlightened _I no uchi
no Kayeru_,—that is, ‘Frogs in a well,’—a metaphorical expression,
which signifies that when they look up they can see no more of the sky
than what the small circumference of the well allows them to perceive.”
Of this more enlightened party was the extraordinary councillor,
Matsudaira Tsu, who proposed, in 1769, the building of ships, and junks
suitable for foreign voyages; but this plan was put a stop to by his
death.

Tango-no-Kami, the governor of Nagasaki, one of this more liberal
party, with whom Titsingh, while director, kept up a secret
intercourse, proposed to him, in 1783, to bring carpenters from
Batavia, to instruct the Japanese in building vessels, especially
for the transport of copper from Ōsaki to Nagasaki, in which service
many Japanese vessels had been lost, with their cargoes; but this
Titsingh knew to be impossible, as skilful carpenters were too rare
at Batavia to be spared. He therefore proposed to take with him, on
his return to Batavia, a number of Japanese to be instructed there;
but the prohibition against any native leaving the country proved an
insurmountable obstacle. He then promised to have a model ship built at
Batavia, and conveyed to Nagasaki, which was done by himself, on his
last visit to Japan; but the assassination of Tanuma, above mentioned,
which had happened during his absence at Batavia, put an end to all
hopes that had been formed of a modification in the exclusive policy of
the Japanese.

This Tanuma (uncle of the Shōgun) was, according to Titsingh’s
account, a young man of uncommon merit and liberal ideas, and the
anti-frog-in-a-well party flattered themselves that, when he should
succeed his father, he would, as they expressed it, “widen the road.”
After his appointment as extraordinary councillor, he and his father
incurred, as Titsingh states, the hatred of the grandees of the court,
by introducing various innovations, which the “Frogs in a well”
censured as detrimental to the empire. It was to this feeling that his
assassination was ascribed, a crime which put an end to the hopes which
had begun to be entertained of seeing Japan opened to foreigners, and
of its inhabitants being allowed to visit other countries.

The appetite for foreign knowledge which Thunberg had noticed was also
observed by Titsingh. “During my residence in Japan,” so he writes in
the above-quoted Introduction, “several persons of quality, at Yedo,
Miyako, and Ōsaka, applied themselves assiduously to the acquisition of
the Dutch language and the reading of our books. The prince of Satsuma,
father-in-law of the present Shōgun, used our alphabet to express
in his letters what he wished a third person not to understand. The
surprising progress made by the prince of Tamba, by Katsuragawa Hozan,
physician to the Shōgun, and Nakagawa Junan, physician to the prince
of Wakasa,[73] and several others, enabled them to express themselves
more clearly than many Portuguese born and bred among us at Batavia.
Considering the short period of our residence [he means, apparently,
the stay of the Dutch embassy] at Yedo, such proficiency cannot but
excite astonishment and admiration. The privilege of corresponding with
the Japanese, above mentioned, and of sending them back their answers
corrected, without the letters being opened by the government, allowed
through the special favor of the worthy governor, Tango-no-Kami,
facilitated to them the learning of Dutch.”

In 1786, the reigning Shōgun, Iyeharu, died, and was succeeded
by an adopted son, Iyenari, who was his distant cousin, being a
great-grandson of his great-grandfather. This prince was married
to a daughter of the prince of Satsuma, and that is stated to have
been a principal reason for his adoption, it being the policy of the
Shōguns thus to secure the attachment of the most powerful princes.
The reigning family is thus allied to the princes of Kaga, Satsuma,
Yechizen, Nagato, and Ōshū, while the houses of Owari, Kishū, and Mito
are descended from the sons of Gongen, from among whom, in case of
failure of heirs, the Shōgun is selected. These princes of the first
class, notwithstanding the jealous supremacy of the emperors, still
retain certain privileges. According to Titsingh, they enjoy absolute
power in their own palaces, with the right of life and death over
their dependents; nor, in case they commit crimes, has the emperor
any authority to put them to death. He can only, with the Dairi’s
assistance, compel them to resign in favor of their sons.

In 1788, a terrible fire occurred at Miyako, by which almost the
entire city, including the palace of the Dairi, was destroyed. The
particulars of this event were communicated to Titsingh by his Japanese
correspondents.

Early in 1792, the summit of the Onsen-ga-Take (High mountain of warm
springs), in the province of Hizen, west of Shimabara, sank entirely
down. Torrents of boiling water issued from all parts of the deep
cavity thus formed, and a vapor arose like thick smoke. Three weeks
after, there was an eruption from a crater, about half a league from
the summit. The lava soon reached the foot of the mountain, and in a
few days the country was in flames for miles around. A month after, the
whole island of Kiūshiū was shaken by an earthquake, felt principally,
however, in the neighborhood of Shimabara. It reduced that part of the
province of Higo opposite Shimabara to a deplorable condition, and even
altered the whole outline of the coast, sinking many vessels which
lay in the harbors. This is the event of the latest date mentioned by
Titsingh. A plan of the eruption, furnished by one of his Japanese
correspondents, also one of the eruption in Shinano in 1783, is given
in the “Illustrations of Japan.”

The matter upon which Titsingh throws the most light is the marriage
and funeral ceremonies of the Japanese, as to which he gives a
translation, or rather an abridgment, of two Chinese works, received
as authority in Japan, as to the etiquette to be observed on these
occasions, at the same time noting the variations introduced by the
Japanese.

The system of Japanese manners, being based on that of the Chinese,
abounds in punctilios, and the higher the rank of the parties
concerned, the more these punctilios are multiplied. This applies to
marriages[74] as to other things. The treatise which Titsingh follows
relates only to the marriages of what we should call the middle class
(including merchants, artisans, etc.), who, though often possessed of
considerable wealth, hold in Japan much the same subordinate position
held prior to the French revolution by the corresponding class in
France.

With persons of high rank, marriages are made entirely from family
convenience; even with those of the middle class they are also much
based on prudential considerations. Formerly, the bridegroom never
saw the bride till she entered his house, which she does, preceded
by a woman bearing a lantern, which originally served the bridegroom
to catch his first glimpse of the bride, and, if he did not like her
looks, the match might be broken off, and the bride sent home. “Such
cases,” says Titsingh, “formerly occurred; but, at present, beauty is
held in much less estimation than fortune and high birth,—advantages to
which people would once have been ashamed to attach so much value, and
the custom has been by degrees entirely laid aside, on account of the
mortification which it must give to the bride. At present, when a young
man has any intention of marrying a female, whom he deems likely, from
the situation of her parents, to be a suitable match, he first seeks
to obtain a sight of her. If he likes her person, a mediator, selected
from among his married friends, is sent to negotiate a match. People of
quality have neither lantern nor mediator, because the parents affiance
the children in infancy, and marriage always follows. Should it so
happen that the husband dislikes the wife, he takes as many concubines
as he pleases. This is also the case among persons of the inferior
classes. The children are adopted by the wife, who is respected in
proportion to the number of which she is either the actual or nominal
mother.”

Formerly the bride was not allowed, in case of the bridegroom’s death
before the consummation of the nuptials, to marry again. A moving
story is told of a romantic Japanese young lady, who, being urged
by her friends to a second betrothal, to avoid such a sacrifice of
her delicacy, cut off her hair, and, when that would not answer, her
nose also. But this antique constancy has, in these latter depraved
times,—depraved in Japan as well as elsewhere,—entirely disappeared, as
well among the nobility as the common people.

The match having been agreed upon, the bridegroom’s father sends a
present—nothing is done in Japan without presents—to the bride’s
father. The bearer, accompanied by the mediator, delivers not only the
presents and a written list or invoice of them, but a complimentary
message also. For these presents a written receipt is given, and, three
days after, the bearer and those who attended him are complimented by
a counter present.

The following articles are then got ready at the bride’s house by the
way of outfit: A white wedding-dress, embroidered with gold or silver;
four other dresses, one with a red, a second with a black ground, one
plain white; a fourth plain yellow; a number of gowns, both lined
and single, and all the other requisites of a wardrobe, as girdles,
bathing-gowns, under robes, both fine and coarse, a thick-furred robe
for a bed-gown; a mattress to sleep on; bedclothes; pillows; gloves;
carpets; bed-curtains; a silk cap; a furred cotton cap; long and short
towels; a cloak; a covering for a norimono; a bag with a mixture of
bran, wheat, and dried herbs, to be used in washing the face; also
a bag of tooth-picks, some skeins of thin twine, made of twisted
paper, for tying up the hair; a small hand-mirror; a little box of
medicines; a small packet of the best columbac, for painting the lips;
several kinds of paper for doing up packages; also paper for writing
letters; a _koto_ (a kind of harp); a _samisen_ (a sort of guitar);
a small chest for holding paper; an inkhorn; a pin-cushion; several
sorts of needles; a box of combs; a mirror with its stand; a mixture
for blacking the teeth (the distinguishing mark of married women in
Japan, some blackening them the moment they are married, and others
when they become pregnant); curling-tongs for the hair; scissors; a
letter-case; a case of razors; several small boxes, varnished or made
of osier; dusters; a case of articles for dressing the hair; an iron
for smoothing linen; a large osier basket to hold the linen; a tub
with handles; a small dagger, with a white sheath, in a little bag
(thought to drive away evil spirits and to preserve from infectious
exhalations,—a quality ascribed also to the swords worn by the men);
complimentary cards, made of paper, variously colored, and gilt or
silvered at the ends, to tie round presents; _noshi_, a species
of edible sea-weed, of which small pieces are attached to every
congratulatory present; silk thread; a small tub to hold flax; several
slender bamboos, used in hanging out clothes to dry; circular fans;
common fans; fire-tureens; and—what certainly ought to form a part
of the bridal outfit of our city belles—a small bench for supporting
the elbows when the owner has nothing to do! Several books are also
added, poems and stories, moral precepts, a book on the duties of woman
in the married state, and another—the very one we are now giving an
abstract of—on the etiquette of the marriage ceremony. Two different
kinds of dressing-tables are also provided, containing many of the
above-mentioned articles; also a number of other housekeeping utensils.

When these things are ready, the mediator and his wife are invited to
the house of the bride’s father, and entertained there. A lucky day
is selected for sending the above-mentioned articles, accompanied by
a written list, to the bridegroom’s house. The mediator is present to
assist in receiving them, and a formal receipt is given, as well as
refreshments and presents to the bearers in proportion to the value of
the articles brought.

On the day fixed for the marriage, an intelligent female servant of the
second class[75] is sent to the house of the bride to attend her, and
the bride’s father, having invited all his kinsfolk, entertains them
previous to the bride’s departure.

The bridal party sets out in norimono, the mediator’s wife first,
then the bride, then the bride’s mother, and, finally, her father.
The mediator has already preceded them to the bridegroom’s house. The
bride is dressed in white (white being the color for mourning among the
Japanese), being considered as thenceforward dead to her parents.

If all the ceremonies are to be observed, there should be stationed,
at the right of the entrance to the house of the bridegroom, an old
woman, and on the left an old man, each with a mortar containing some
rice-cakes. As the bride’s norimono reaches the house, they begin to
pound their respective mortars, the man saying, “A thousand years!”
the woman, “Ten thousand!”—allusions to the reputed terms of life of
the crane and the tortoise thus invoked for the bride. As the norimono
passes between them, the man pours his cakes into the woman’s mortar,
and both pound together. What is thus pounded is moulded into two
cakes, which are put one upon another and receive a conspicuous place
in the toko[76] of the room where the marriage is to be celebrated.

[Illustration: A SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF A NOBLE
  From _Official History of Japan_]

The norimono is met within the passage by the bridegroom, who stands
in his dress of ceremony ready to receive it. There is also a woman
seated there with a lantern, and several others behind her. It was, as
already mentioned, by the light of this lantern that formerly the
groom first saw his bride, and, if dissatisfied with her, exercised
his right of putting a stop to the ceremony. The bride, on seeing the
bridegroom, reaches to him, through the front window of her norimono,
her _mamori_,[77] and he hands it to a female servant who takes it into
the apartment prepared for the wedding and hangs it up. The bride is
also led to her apartment, the woman with the lantern preceding.

The marriage being now about to take place, the bride is led by one
of her waiting-women into the room where it is to be celebrated,
and is seated there with two female attendants on either side. The
bridegroom then leaves his room and comes into this apartment. No other
persons are present except the mediator and his wife. The formality
of the marriage consists in drinking sake after a particular manner.
The sake is poured out by two young girls, one of whom is called the
male butterfly, and the other the female butterfly,—appellations
derived from their _susu_, or sake-jugs, each of which is adorned
with a paper-butterfly. As these insects always fly about in pairs,
it is intended to intimate that so the husband and wife ought to be
continually together. The male butterfly always pours out the sake to
be drank, but, before doing so, turns a little to the left, when the
female butterfly pours from her jug a little sake into the jug of the
other, who then proceeds to pour out for the ceremony. For drinking it,
three bowls are used, placed on a tray or waiter, one within the other.
The bride takes the uppermost, holds it in both hands, while some sake
is poured into it, sips a little, three several times, and then hands
it to the groom. He drinks three times in like manner, puts the bowl
under the third, takes the second, hands it to be filled, drinks out
of it three times, and passes it to the bride. She drinks three times,
puts the second bowl under the first, takes the third, holds it to be
filled, drinks three times, and then hands it to the groom, who does
the same, and afterwards puts this bowl under the first. This ceremony
constitutes the marriage. The bride’s parents, who meanwhile were in
another room, being informed that this ceremony is over, come in, as do
the bridegroom’s parents and brothers, and seat themselves in a certain
order. The sake, with other refreshments interspersed, is then served,
by the two butterflies, to these relations of the married parties in a
prescribed order, indicated by the mediator; the two families, by this
ceremony, extending, as it were, to each other the alliance already
contracted between the bride and bridegroom.

Next follows the delivery of certain presents on the part of the bride
to the bridegroom, his relatives, and the servants of the household.
These are brought by a female, who arranges them in order in an
adjoining room, and hands written lists of them to the mediator, who
passes it to the bridegroom’s father, who, having received the paper,
returns thanks, then reads the lists aloud, and again returns thanks.

The bridegroom then presents the bride with two robes, one with a red
and the other with a black ground, embroidered with gold or silver. The
bride retires, puts on these robes, and again returns. Refreshments of
a peculiar kind then follow, the bride, to spare her bashfulness, being
suffered to eat in a room by herself.

This entertainment over, the parents of the bride prepare to leave
her. They are accompanied by those of the bridegroom, and by the bride
herself, to the door; the bridegroom with two servants bears candles,
shows the way, and takes leave with compliments.

Sometimes the bridegroom proceeds, that same night, with his parents
and the mediator, to the house of the bride’s father, where the
contracting of relationship by drinking sake is again gone through
with, the bride remaining behind in her husband’s house, where she is
meanwhile entertained by his brothers. On this occasion the father of
the bride presents his new son-in-law with a sabre. Presents are also
delivered on the part of the bridegroom to the bride’s relations.

The feasting over, the bridegroom and his parents return home, and are
received at the door by the bride.

In making the bed for the bride, her pillow is placed towards the north
(the practice followed with the dead, for she is thenceforward to be
considered as dead to her parents). Such is stated to have been the
ancient custom, though now generally disused.

The beds having been prepared, the bride is conducted to hers by one of
the women appointed to attend her, and the same person introduces the
bridegroom into the apartment. The young couple are waited on by the
male and female butterflies. One of the bride’s women sleeps secretly
in the adjoining chamber.

The bridal chamber is abundantly furnished with all the numerous
articles of the Japanese toilet, including a greater or less quantity,
according to their rank, of wearing apparel, hung on movable racks or
clothes-horses.

In families of the rank of the governors of Nagasaki the bride is
portioned with twelve robes, each upon a distinct horse; namely,
a blue robe, for the first month, embroidered with fir-trees or
bamboos; a sea-green robe for the second month, with cherry flowers
and buttercups; a robe of light red, for the third month, with willows
and cherry-trees; a robe of pearl color, for the fourth month,
embroidered with the cuckoo, and small spots representing islands; a
robe of faint yellow, for the fifth month, embroidered with waves and
sword-grass; a robe of bright orange, for the sixth month, embroidered
with melons and with an impetuous torrent,—the rainy season falling
in this and the previous month; a white robe, for the seventh month,
with _kikyō_ flowers, white and purple; a red robe, for the eighth
month, sprinkled with sloe-leaves; a violet robe, for the ninth month,
embroidered with flowers of the _Chrysanthemum indicum_ [_Kiku_], a
very splendid flower; an olive-colored robe, for the tenth month, with
representations of a road and ears of rice cut off; a black robe, for
the eleventh month, embroidered with emblems of ice and icicles; a
purple robe for the twelfth month, embroidered with emblems of snow.
Beyond some personal outfit of this sort, it is said not to be the
custom to portion daughters.

Next morning the young couple take a warm bath, and then breakfast
together. Soon after numerous presents come in, of which a careful
account is kept; the bride also receives visits of congratulation. The
day after, all the bridegroom’s people are treated with cakes in the
apartment of the bride; and rice-cake, put up in boxes, is sent to all
the near relations who did not attend the wedding.

After the expiration of three days the bride pays a visit to her
parents preceded by a present from her husband, one corresponding to
which is sent back when the bride returns. All the preceding ceremonies
over, the bride, accompanied by her mother-in-law, or some aged female
relative, pays a visit to all who have sent her presents, thanks them,
and offers a suitable return,—a supply of suitable presents for this
purpose having been provided for her before she left her father’s
house. Seven days after the wedding, the bridegroom and four or five of
his intimate friends are invited by the parents of the bride to a grand
entertainment. A few days after, the bridegroom invites the relatives
of the bride to a similar entertainment, and so the matrimonial
solemnities terminate.

The Japanese have two ways of disposing of the dead,—_dosō_, or
interment; _kwasō_, or burning,—and persons about to die generally
state which method they prefer.

Of the funeral ceremonies[78] observed at Nagasaki, Titsingh gives the
following account: The body, after being carefully washed by a favorite
servant, and the head shaved, is clothed according to the state of the
weather, and (if a female, in her best apparel) exactly as in life,
except that the sash is tied, not in a bow, but strongly fastened with
two knots, to indicate that it is never more to be loosed. The body is
then covered with a piece of linen, folded in a peculiar manner, and is
placed on a mat in the middle of the hall, the head to the north. Food
is offered to it, and all the family lament.

After being kept for forty-eight hours, the body is placed on its knees
in a tub-shaped coffin, which is enclosed in a square, oblong box,
or bier, the top of which is roof-shaped, called _kwan_. Two _ihai_
are also prepared,—wooden tablets of a peculiar shape and fashion,
containing inscriptions commemorative of the deceased, the time of his
decease, and the name given to him since that event.

The ihai and kwan, followed by the eldest son and the family, servants,
friends, and acquaintances, are borne in a procession, with flags,
lanterns, etc., to one of the neighboring temples, whence, after
certain ceremonies, in which the priests take a leading part, they are
carried, by the relatives only, to the grave, where a priest, while
waiting their arrival, repeats certain hymns. The moment they are come,
the tub containing the body is taken out of the kwan and deposited
in the grave, which is then filled with earth and covered with a
flat stone, which again is covered with earth, and over the whole is
placed the kwan and one of the ihai, which is removed at the end of
seven weeks, to make room for the _hiseki_,[79] or gravestone. If the
deceased had preferred to be burnt, the kwan is taken to the summit of
one of two neighboring mountains, on the top of each of which is a sort
of furnace, prepared for this purpose, enclosed in a small hut. The
coffin is then taken from the kwan, and, being placed in the furnace,
a great fire is kindled. The eldest son is provided with an earthen
urn, in which first the bones and then the ashes are put, after which
the mouth of the urn is sealed up. While the body is burning, a priest
recites hymns. The urn is then carried to the grave, and deposited in
it, and, the grave being filled up, the kwan is placed over it.

The eldest son and his brothers are dressed in white, in garments of
undyed hempen stuff, as are the bearers, and all females attending
the funeral, whether relatives or not; the others wear their usual
dresses. The females are carried in norimono, behind the male part of
the procession, which proceeds on foot, the nearest relatives coming
first. The eldest daughter takes precedence of the wife. The eldest son
and heir, whether by blood or adoption, who is the chief mourner, wears
also a broad-brimmed hat, of rushes, which hang about his shoulders,
and in this attire does not recognize nor salute anybody.

It is a remarkable circumstance that relatives in the ascending line
and seniors never attend the funerals of their junior kindred, nor go
into mourning for them. Thus, if the second son should die, neither
father, mother, uncle, aunt, elder brother, nor elder sister would
attend the funeral.

The laboring classes are not required to go into mourning; yet some of
them do for two, three, or four days. With them the burial takes place
after twenty-four hours. With the upper class the mourning is fixed at
fifty days. It used to be twice that time, but is said to have been cut
down by Iyeyasu (founder of the reigning dynasty), that the business of
the public functionaries might suffer the less interruption. Persons in
mourning stay at home, abstain from animal food of any description, and
from sake, and neither cut their nails nor shave their heads.

One of the ihai is left, as has been mentioned, at the grave; the
other, during the period of mourning, is set up in the best apartment
of the house of the deceased. Sweetmeats, fruit, and tea are placed
before it, and morning, noon, and night food is offered to it, served
up as to a living person. Two candles, fixed in candlesticks, burn by
it night and day, and a lighted lantern is hung up on either side.
The whole household, of both sexes, servants included, pray before it
morning and evening. This is kept up for seven weeks, and during each
week, from the day of the death, a priest attends and reads hymns for
an hour before the ihai. He is each time supplied with ornaments, and
paid a fee of from five to six mas.

During these seven weeks the son goes every day, be the weather what
it may, and says a prayer by the grave. He wears his rush hat, through
which he can see without being seen, speaks to nobody, and is dressed
in white. With this exception, and a ceremonious visit, in the third,
fourth, or fifth week, to the relatives and friends, he remains in his
house, with the door fastened. It is customary to erect a small hut
near the grave, in which a servant watches, noting down the names of
all who come to visit it.

When the seven weeks are over, the mourner shaves and dresses, opens
his door, and goes, if an officer, to inform the governor that his
days of mourning are over. He next pays a complimentary visit to all
who attended the funeral, or have visited the grave, sending them also
a complimentary present. The hiseki, or gravestone (almost precisely
like those in use with us), is placed over the grave, and two ihai,
varnished black and superbly gilt, are provided, one of which is sent
to a temple. The other remains at home, kept in a case in a small
apartment appropriated for that purpose, in which are kept the ihai of
all the ancestors of the family. It is customary every morning, after
rising and dressing, to take the ihai out of its case, and to burn a
little incense before it, bowing the head in token of respect.

[Illustration: A JAPANESE BED]

Though the wearing of white garments and other formalities of the
special mourning, called imi, cease at the end of fifty days at the
longest, bright colors are not to be worn, or a Shintō temple to be
entered, for thirteen months, and this is called _buku_. For a husband,
imi lasts thirty days and buku thirteen months; for a wife, imi twenty
days and buku three months; for grandparents and uncles, the periods
are thirty days and five months; for an eldest brother or sister, or
aunt on the father’s side, and great-grandparents, twenty days and
three months; for great-great-grandparents and aunts on the mother’s
side, fathers and mothers-in-law, brother-in-law or sister-in-law, or
eldest grandchild, ten days and one month; for other grandchildren,
and for cousins of either sex, and their children, three days and
seven days. For children under the age of seven years, whatever the
relationship, there is no mourning.

The great dignitaries must wear mourning for the Shōgun; all officers,
civil and military, for their princes; and whoever derives his
subsistence from another must mourn for him as for a father. Pupils
also must mourn for their teacher, education being esteemed equivalent
to a livelihood. The sons of a mother repudiated by her husband and
expelled from his house mourn for her as if dead.

In case of persons holding office, who die suddenly without previously
having resigned in favor of their heirs, it is not unusual to bury them
the night after their death, in a private manner. The death, though
whispered about, is not officially announced. The heir, who dresses
and acts as usual, notifies the authorities that his father is sick
and wishes to resign. Having obtained the succession, he soon after
announces his father’s death, and the formal funeral and mourning then
take place.

The honors paid to deceased parents do not terminate with the mourning.
Every month, on the day of the ancestor’s decease, for fifty, or even
for a hundred years, food, sweetmeats, and fruit are set before the
ihai. One hundred days after the decease of a father or mother, an
entertainment is to be given to all the intimate friends, including the
priest who presided at the funeral. This is to be repeated a year from
the death; and again on the third, seventh, thirteenth, twenty-fifth,
thirty-third, fiftieth, hundredth, and hundred and fiftieth
anniversary, and so on, as long as the family exists. To secure the
due payment to themselves of funeral honors, those who have no sons of
their own adopt one. If any accident, fortunate or disastrous, happens
to the family, it is formally communicated to the ihai, such as the
birth of a child, a safe return from a journey, etc. In case of floods
or fires, the ihai must be saved in preference to everything else,
their loss being regarded as the greatest of misfortunes.

The fifteenth day of the seventh Japanese month is a festival, devoted
to the honor of parents and ancestors. Every Japanese whose parents are
still living considers this a happy day. People regale themselves and
their children with fish. Married sons and daughters, or adopted sons,
send presents to their parents. On the evening of the 13th, the ihai
are taken from their cases, and a repast set before them of vegetables
and the fruits then ripening. In the middle is set a vase, in which
perfumes are burnt, and other vases containing flowers. The next day,
meals of rice, tea, and other food are regularly served to the ihai, as
to living guests.

Towards evening, lanterns, suspended from long bamboos, are lighted
before each hiseki, or gravestone, and refreshments are also placed
there. This is repeated on the fifteenth. Before daylight of the
sixteenth the articles placed at the graves are packed into small
boats of straw, provided with sails of paper or cloth, which are
earned in procession, with vocal and instrumental music and loud cries,
to the waterside, where they are launched, by way of dismissing the
souls of the dead, who are supposed now to return to their graves.
“This festival,” says Titsingh, speaking of its celebration at
Nagasaki, “produces a highly picturesque effect. Outside the town, the
view of it from the island Deshima is one of the most beautiful. The
spectator would almost imagine that he beheld a torrent of fire pouring
from the hill, owing to the immense number of small boats that are
carried to the shore to be turned adrift on the sea. In the middle of
the night, and when there is a brisk wind, the agitation of the water
causing all these lights to dance to and fro, produces an enchanting
scene. The noise and bustle in the town, the sound of gongs and the
voices of the priests, combine to form a discord that can scarcely be
conceived. The whole bay seems to be covered with _ignes fatui_. Though
these barks have sails of paper, or stronger stuff, very few of them
pass the place where our ships lie at anchor. In spite of the guards,
thousands of paupers rush into the water to secure the small copper
coin and other things placed in them. Next day, they strip the barks of
all that is left, and the tide carries them out to sea. Thus terminates
this ceremony.”[80]




CHAPTER XLII

 _Exploration of the Northern Japanese Seas—First Russian Mission
 to Japan—Professorship of Japanese at Irkutsk—New Restrictions
 on the Dutch—Embarrassments growing out of the War of the French
 Revolution—American Flag at Nagasaki—Captain Stewart—Ingenuity of
 a Japanese Fisherman—Heer Doeff, Director at Deshima—Suspicious
 Proceedings of Captain Stewart—Russian Embassy—Klaproth’s Knowledge
 of Japanese—Doeff’s First Journey to Yedo—Dutch Trade in 1804 and
 1806—An American Ship at Nagasaki—The British Frigate “Phaeton”—No
 Ships from Batavia—The Dutch on Short Allowance—English Ships
 from Batavia—Communication again suspended—Dutch and Japanese
 Dictionary—Children at the Factory—A. D. 1792-1817._


Till comparatively a recent period Europe was very much in the dark
as to the geography of northeastern Asia. Through the explorations
and conquests of the Russians, Kamtchatka (long before visited by
the Japanese) first became known to Europeans, about the year 1700.
The exploration of the Kurile Islands, stretching from the southern
point of that peninsula, led the Russians towards Japan. In 1713, the
Cossack Kosierewski reached Kunajiri (the twentieth Kurile, according
to the Russian reckoning, beginning from Kamtchatka), close to the
northeastern coast of Yezo, and claimed by the Japanese. In 1736,
Spagenburg, a Dane in the Russian service, visited all the southern
Kuriles, coasted the island of Yezo, made the land of Nippon, and
entered several harbors on its eastern coast. These explorations were
renewed by Potonchew in 1777; but it was not till 1787 that La Perouse
obtained for Europe the first distinct knowledge of the outline of the
Sea of Japan, of the relative situations of Sakhalin and Yezo, and of
the strait between them, which still bears his name.

In 1791, the “Argonaut,” an English ship employed in the fur trade
on the northwest coast of America, made the western coast of Japan,
and attempted to trade; but she was immediately surrounded by lines
of boats; all intercourse with the shore was prevented, and she was
dismissed with a gratuitous supply of wood and water. In 1795-97,
Captain Broughton, in an English exploring vessel, coasted the southern
and eastern shore of Yezo, sailed among the southern Kuriles, and
touched at several places on the southern part of Sakhalin. Besides the
natives, he found a few Japanese, who treated him with much attention,
but were very anxious for his speedy departure. Japanese officers came
from Yezo, expressly to look after him, to restrict his communications,
and to send him off, with all civility indeed, but as speedily as
possible.

Previous to Broughton’s voyage, Russia had already made a first attempt
at a commercial and diplomatic intercourse with Japan. The crew of a
Japanese vessel, shipwrecked in the Sea of Okhotsk, had been saved by
the Russians, about 1782, and taken to Irkutsk, in Siberia, where they
lived for ten years. At length the governor of Siberia was directed, by
the empress Catherine II, to send home these Japanese, and with them an
envoy, not as from her, but from himself. Lieutenant Laxman, selected
for this purpose, sailed from Okhotsk in the autumn of 1792, landed
on the northern coast of Yezo, and passed the winter there. The next
summer he entered the harbor of Hakodate, on the northern coast of
the Strait of Sangar. From that town he travelled by land to the city
of Matsumae, three days’ journey to the west, and the chief Japanese
settlement on the island, the authorities of which, after communicating
with Yedo, delivered to him a paper to the following effect: “That
although it was ordained by the laws of Japan, that any foreigners
landing anywhere on the coast, except at Nagasaki, should be seized and
condemned to perpetual imprisonment; yet, considering the ignorance of
the Russians, and their having brought back the shipwrecked Japanese,
they might be permitted to depart, on condition of never approaching,
under any pretence, any part of the coast except Nagasaki. As to the
Japanese brought back, the government was much obliged to the Russians;
who, however, were at liberty to leave them or take them away again, as
they pleased, it being the law of Japan that such persons ceased to be
Japanese, and became the subjects of that government into whose hands
destiny had cast them. With respect to commercial negotiations, those
could only take place at Nagasaki; and a paper was sent authorizing
a Russian vessel to enter that port for that purpose; but as the
Christian worship was not allowed in Japan, any persons admitted into
Nagasaki must carefully abstain from it.”

Laxman was treated with great courtesy, though kept in a sort of
confinement; he was supported, with his crew, by the Japanese
authorities, while he remained, and was dismissed with presents and an
ample supply of provisions, for which no payment would be received.

Here the matter rested for several years, but into a school for
teaching navigation, which Catherine II established at Irkutsk, the
capital of Eastern Siberia, she introduced a professorship of the
Japanese language, the professors being taken from among the Japanese
shipwrecked from time to time on the coast of Siberia. Meanwhile,
even the Dutch commerce to Japan had undergone some new restrictions.
Whether from the prevalence of the “frog-in-a-well” policy, or from
apprehensions, as it was said, of the exhaustion of the copper mines,
the Dutch in 1790 were limited to a single ship annually, while to
accommodate their expenditures to this diminished trade, the hitherto
yearly embassy to Yedo was to be sent only once in four years, though
annual presents to the emperor and his officers were still required as
before.

The occupation of Holland by the French armies not only exposed Dutch
vessels to capture by the English, it cost Holland several of her
eastern colonies, and thus placed new obstacles in the way of the
Japanese trade. It was no doubt to diminish the danger of capture by
the British, that, in the year 1797, the ship despatched from Batavia
sailed under the American flag, and carried American papers, while the
commander, one Captain Stewart, though in reality an Englishman from
Madras or Bengal, passed for an American, and his ship as the “Eliza,”
of New York. That the crew of this vessel spoke English, and not Dutch,
was immediately noticed by the interpreters at Nagasaki, and produced a
great sensation among the Japanese officials; but at last, after vast
difficulty, they were made to understand that though the crew spoke
English, they were not “the English,” but of another nation, and, what
was a still more essential point, that they had nothing to do with the
trade, but were merely hired to bring the goods in order to save them
from capture; as a result of which explanation it was finally agreed
that the “Eliza” should be considered as a Dutch ship.

The same vessel and captain returned again the next year; but in
leaving the harbor for Batavia, loaded with camphor and copper, she
struck a hidden rock, and sunk. The first scheme hit upon for raising
the vessel was to send down divers to discharge the copper; but two
of them lost their lives from the suffocating effect of the melting
camphor, and this scheme had to be abandoned. Heavily laden as she was,
every effort at raising her proved abortive, till at last the object
was accomplished by a Japanese fisherman, who volunteered his services.
He fastened to each side of the sunken vessel some fifteen of the
Japanese boats used in towing, and a large Japanese coasting craft to
the stern, and, taking advantage of a stiff breeze and a spring tide,
dragged the sunken vessel from the rock, and towed her into a spot
where, upon the ebbing of the tide, she could be discharged without
difficulty. For this achievement the fisherman was raised, by the
prince of Hizen, to which province he belonged, to the rank of a noble,
being privileged to wear two swords, and to take as his insignia or
arms a Dutch hat and two tobacco pipes.

[Illustration: THE CULTIVATION OF GRAIN: THRESHING AND CLEANING GRAIN;
COOLIES IN A RICE FIELD; WOMEN CARRYING RICE]

When repaired and reloaded, the “Eliza” sailed again; but being
dismasted in a storm, returned to refit, by reason of which she
was detained so long, that the ship of 1799, also under American
colors, and this time it would seem a real American, the “Franklin,”
Captain Devereux, arrived at Nagasaki, and was nearly loaded before
Captain Stewart was ready to sail. In this ship of 1799 came out,
to be stationed as an officer at the factory, Heer Hendrick Doeff,
who remained there for the next seventeen years, and to whose
“Recollections of Japan,” written in Dutch, and published in Holland
in 1835, we are greatly indebted for what we know of the occurrences
in Japan during that period. It was, however, a very unfortunate
circumstance, tending considerably to diminish the value of his book,
that all his papers were lost by the foundering of the ship in which
he sailed from Batavia for Holland, in 1819, the crew and passengers
escaping barely with their lives; after which he allowed near fifteen
years more to pass before he drew upon his memory for the materials
of his book, which was only published at length to correct some
misapprehensions, upon matters personal to himself, likely to arise, as
he feared, from publications which preceded his own. His book, indeed,
is mainly devoted to the defence of the Dutch nation and the affairs
of the factory, against the strictures of Raffles and others, throwing
only some incidental light upon the Japanese, the knowledge of whom, so
far as it is accessible to residents at Deshima, had indeed been pretty
well exhausted by previous writers.

Captain Stewart, refusing to wait for the other ship, set sail at once;
but he did not arrive at Batavia. He reappeared, however, the next year
at Nagasaki, representing himself as having been shipwrecked, with the
loss of everything; but as having found a friend at Manila, who had
enabled him to buy and lade the brig in which he had now come back, for
the purpose, as he said, of discharging, out of the sale of her cargo,
his debt due to the factory for the advances made for the repairs of
his lost vessel. Heer Wadenaar, the director, saw, however, or thought
he saw, in this proceeding, a scheme for gaining a commercial footing
at Nagasaki, independent of the regular trade from Batavia. He caused
the goods to be sold and applied to the discharge of Stewart’s debt;
but he declined to furnish any return cargo for the brig, and he
arrested Stewart, and sent him a prisoner to Batavia; whence, however,
soon after his arrival there, he made his escape. He reappeared again
at Nagasaki in 1803, still under the American flag, but coming now
from Bengal and Canton, with a cargo of Indian and Chinese goods. He
solicited permission to trade and to supply himself with water and oil.
With these latter he was gratuitously furnished, but liberty to trade
was refused, and he was compelled to depart; nor was anything further
heard of him. Doeff seems to have supposed him a real American, and his
last expedition an American adventure; but in a pamphlet on Java and
its trade, published at Batavia in 1800, by Heer Hagendorp, and quoted
by Raffles in his history of Java, Stewart is expressly stated to have
been an Englishman from Madras or Bengal,—a statement which seems to be
confirmed by his coming from Bengal on his last arrival at Nagasaki,
and a fact as to which Hagendorp, who held a high official position,
would not have been likely to be mistaken.[81]

The next circumstance of importance mentioned by Doeff was the arrival
in October, 1804, in the harbor of Nagasaki, of a Russian vessel,
commanded by Captain Krusenstern, and having on board Count Resanoff,
sent as ambassador from the Czar, in somewhat late prosecution of
the negotiation commenced by Laxman in 1792. This vessel brought
back a number of shipwrecked Japanese,[82] and her coming had been
notified to the governor of Nagasaki, through the medium of the Dutch
authorities at Batavia and Deshima. There are two Russian narratives
of this expedition, one by Krusenstern, the other by Langsdorff, who
was attached to the embassy. Both ascribe the failure of the mission to
the jealous opposition of the Dutch. Doeff, on the contrary, insists
that he did everything he could—for by this time he was director—to aid
the Russians, and that they had only to blame their own obstinacy in
refusing to yield to the demands of the Japanese.

The dispute began upon the very first boarding of the Russian ship,
on which occasion the Japanese officers took the Dutch director with
them. Resanoff consented to give up his powder, but insisted upon
retaining his arms; he also refused those prostrations which the
boarding-officers demanded as representatives of the emperor. These
points were referred to Yedo; but, meantime (Doeff says, through
his solicitations) the ship with the arms on board was permitted to
anchor. The Dutch and Russians were allowed to pass the first evening
together, but afterwards they were jealously separated, though they
contrived to keep up an occasional intercourse through the connivance
of the interpreters. The annual ship from Batavia, this year Dutch,
then at Deshima, was removed to another and distant berth. When she
left, no letters were allowed to be sent by the Russians, except a bare
despatch, first inspected by the governor, notifying the ambassador’s
arrival, and the health of his company. Nor were the Dutch allowed
in passing even to return the salutation of the Russians. The Dutch
captain put his trumpet to his lips, but was under strict orders from
the director not to speak a word,—a discourtesy, as they thought it,
which the Russians highly resented. Of the Russians, none were allowed
to land till two months and a half after their arrival, the matter
having first been referred to Yedo. Finally, a fish-house, on a small
island, closely hedged in with bamboos, so that nothing could be seen,
was fitted up for the ambassador. All the arms were given up, except
the swords of the officers and the muskets of seven soldiers who landed
with the ambassador, but who had no powder. The ship was constantly
surrounded by guard-boats.

After a detention of near six months, a commissioner from Yedo made
his appearance, with the emperor’s answer. The ambassador, having been
carried on shore in the barge of the prince of Hizen, was conveyed to
the governor’s house in the norimono of the Dutch director, borrowed
for the occasion; but all his suite had to walk, and, in order that
they might see nothing, the doors and windows of the houses, wherever
they passed, were closed; the street gates were fastened, and the
inhabitants were ordered to keep at home. A second interview took place
the next day, when a flat refusal was returned to all the ambassador’s
requests, and even the presents for the emperor were declined.

In the midst of all these annoyances everything was done with the
greatest show of politeness. The emperor’s answer, which Doeff was
called upon to assist in translating into Dutch, placed the refusal to
receive the ambassador or his presents on the ground that, if they were
received, it would be necessary to send back an ambassador with equal
presents, to which not only the great poverty of the Japanese was an
obstacle, but also the strict law, in force for a hundred and fifty
years past, against any Japanese subject or vessel going to foreign
countries. It was also stated that Japan had no great wants, and little
occasion for foreign productions, of which the Dutch and Chinese
already brought as much as was required, and that any considerable
trade could only be established by means of an intercourse between
foreigners and Japanese, which the laws strictly forbade.

The ambassador did not depart without bitter reproaches against Doeff,
whom he charged as the author of his miscarriage. He arrived at Okhotsk
in May, 1805, afterwards passed over to Sitka, on the American coast,
and the next year, having returned again to Okhotsk, despatched two
small Russian vessels to make reprisals on the Japanese. They landed
on the coast of Sakhalin, in the years 1806 and 1807, plundered a
Japanese settlement, loaded their vessels with the booty, carried off
several Kurile and two Japanese prisoners, and left behind written
notifications, in Russian and French, that this had been done in
revenge for the slights put upon Resanoff.[83]

In 1805 and 1806, Klaproth, the learned Orientalist, passed some months
at Irkutsk, as secretary to a Russian embassy to China. He found the
Japanese professorship, established there by Catherine II, filled by a
Japanese, who had embraced the Greek religion, and, from him and the
books which he furnished, Klaproth acquired such knowledge as he had of
the Japanese tongue.

In the spring of 1806, Deoff made his first journey to Yedo. In the
arrangements of the journey and the audience, there seems to have
been no change since the time of Thunberg. While he was at Yedo a
tremendous fire broke out. It began, at a distance from his lodgings,
at ten in the morning. At one the Dutch took the alarm, and began to
pack. At three they fled. “On issuing into the street,” says Doeff,
“we saw everything in flames. There was great danger in endeavoring
to escape before the wind, in the same direction taken by the fire.
We, therefore, took a slanting direction, through a street already
burning, and thus succeeded in reaching an open field. It was studded
with the standards of princes whose dwellings had been destroyed, and
whose wives and children had fled thither for refuge. We followed their
example, and marked out a spot with our Dutch flags. We had now a full
view of the fire, and never did I see anything so terrific. The terrors
of this ocean of flame were enhanced by the heart-rending cries of
the fugitive women and children.” The fire raged till noon the next
day, when it was extinguished by a fall of rain.[84] The Dutch learned
from their host, that, within five minutes after they left, the fire
took his house, and destroyed everything—as an indemnity for which,
the Dutch East India Company allowed him annually for three years from
twelve to fourteen hundred-weight of sugar. The palaces of thirty-seven
princes had been destroyed. The weight of fugitives broke down the
famous Nihonbashi, or bridge of Japan, so that, besides those burned to
death, many were drowned, including a daughter of the prince of Awa.
Twelve hundred lives were said to have been lost.

On this occasion the Dutch were greatly aided by a wealthy Japanese
merchant, who sent forty men to assist them in removing. He lost his
shop, or store, and a warehouse, containing a hundred thousand pounds
of spun silk, yet the day after the fire was engaged in rebuilding his
premises.

The Dutch, burnt out of their inn, were lodged at first in the house
of the governor of Nagasaki; but, four days after, procured a new inn.
This was in a more public place than the old obscure lodging. The
appearance of the Dutch on the balcony attracted crowds of curious
spectators, and soon drew out an order, from the governor of Yedo, that
they should keep within doors. But Doeff refused to obey this order, on
the ground that, during their entire embassy, the Dutch were under the
authority only of the governor of Nagasaki; and in this position he was
sustained by that personage.

After the audience the Dutch received many visits, particularly from
physicians and astronomers. On the subject of astronomy Doeff was
more puzzled than even Thunberg had been, for, since Thunberg’s time,
the Japanese would seem to have made considerable advances in that
science. They had a translation of La Lande’s astronomy, and the chief
astronomer, Takaro Sampei (?) (to whom Doeff, at his special request
for a name, gave that of _Globius_, and who proved, on subsequent
occasions, a good friend of the Dutch), could calculate eclipses with
much precision. To a grandson of one of Thunberg’s medical friends,
who was also a physician, Doeff gave the name of _Johannis Botanicus_.
The honor of a Dutch name, exceedingly coveted by the Japanese, was
solicited even by the prince of Satsuma and his secretary. Being
attacked with colic on his return from Yedo, Doeff submitted to the
Japanese remedy of acupuncture; but he does not give any high idea of
its efficacy.

Two accounts current of the trade of Japan for the years 1804 and 1806,
published by Raffles, will serve to show its condition at this time.
The articles sent to Japan were sugar, spices, woollens, cottons, tin,
lead, quicksilver, sapan-wood, saffron, liquorice, elephant’s-teeth,
catechu, and ducatoons, sugar forming about half the cargo in value.
The prime cost at Batavia was, in 1804, 211,896, in 1806, 161,008 rix
dollars, to which were to be added freight and charges at Batavia,
amounting in 1804 to 150,000, in 1806 to 106,244 rix dollars, making
the whole cost in 1804, 361,807, in 1806, 266,252 rix dollars. The
sales at Deshima amounted in 1804 to 160,378, in 1806 to 108,797 rix
dollars; but this included, in 1804, 3,333 rix dollars from old goods,
and, in 1806, 5,428 rix dollars borrowed of the Japanese to complete
the cargo. From these amounts were to be deducted the expenses of
the establishment at Deshima, and loss in weight on the sugar, viz.,
in 1804, 67,952,[85] and in 1806, 39,625 rix dollars, leaving to be
employed in the purchase of copper and camphor, in 1804, 92,426, in
1806, 69,172 rix dollars, to which were added 13,125 rix dollars
from the sale of old goods. The copper brought back by the ship of
1804 having been coined at Batavia, the entire profit of the voyage
amounted to 507,147 rix dollars, but the larger part of this profit
belonged, in fact, to the mint, the copper being coined at a rate
above its intrinsic value. In 1808, the copper being sold, the balance
in favor of the voyage was but 175,505 rix dollars, deducting the
amount borrowed in Japan. It was only the low rate at which copper was
furnished by the Japanese government that enabled these voyages to pay.

[Illustration: THE PROCESSES OF WEIGHING AND POUNDING RICE]

In 1807, the “Eclipse,” of Boston, chartered at Canton by the Russian
American Company, for Kamtchatka and the northwest coast of America,
entered the bay of Nagasaki under Russian colors,[86] and was towed to
the anchorage by an immense number of boats. A Dutchman came on board,
and advised them to haul down their colors, as the Japanese were much
displeased with Russia. The Japanese declined to trade, and asked what
the ship wanted. Being told water and fresh provisions, they sent on
board a plentiful supply of fish, hogs, vegetables, and tubs of water,
for which they would take no pay. Finding that no trade was to be had,
on the third day the captain lifted his anchors, and was towed to sea
by near a hundred boats.

In October, 1808, about the time that the annual Dutch vessel was
expected, a ship appeared off Nagasaki, under Dutch colors, and,
without any suspicion, two Dutchmen of the factory, followed by the
usual Japanese officers in another boat, proceeded to board her. The
Dutchmen were met by a boat from the vessel, and were requested in
Dutch to come into it. Upon their proposal to wait for the Japanese
boat, the strangers boarded them with drawn cutlasses, and forced them
on board the ship, which proved to be the English frigate “Phaeton,”
Captain Pellew. The Japanese rowed back with the news of what had
happened, by which Nagasaki and all its officers were thrown into a
state of the greatest agitation.

While the governor of Nagasaki was exchanging messages with director
Doeff as to what could be the meaning of this occurrence, Captain
Pellew, who was in search of the annual Dutch ship, stood directly into
the harbor, without a pilot. The director, fearing to be himself taken,
fled, with the other Dutchmen, to the governor’s house. “In the town,”
he says, “everything was in frightful embarrassment and confusion. The
governor was in a state of indescribable wrath, which fell, in the
first instance, upon the Japanese officers for having returned without
the Dutchmen, or information as to what nation the ship belonged to.
Before I could ask him a question, he said to me, with fury in his
face, ‘Be quiet, director; I shall take care that your people are
restored.’ But the governor soon learned, to his consternation, that
at the harbor guard-house, where a thousand men ought to have been
stationed, there were only sixty or seventy, and those uncommanded.”

After a while came a letter from one of the detained Dutchmen, in these
words: “A ship is arrived from Bengal. The captain’s name is Pellew;
he asks for water and provisions.” The governor was little disposed
to yield to this demand, and, about midnight, his secretary waited on
Doeff to inform him that he was going to rescue the prisoners. Being
questioned as to the manner how, he replied, “Your countrymen have been
seized by treachery; I shall, therefore, go alone, obtain admission on
board by every demonstration of friendship, seek an interview with the
captain, and, on his refusal to deliver his prisoners, stab him first,
and then myself.” It cost Doeff a good deal of trouble to dissuade the
secretary and the governor from this wild scheme. The plan finally
adopted was to manage to detain the ship till vessels and men could be
collected to attack her.

The next afternoon one of the detained Dutchmen brought on shore the
following epistle from the English captain: “I have ordered my own
boat to set Goseman on shore, to procure me provisions and water; if
he does not return with such before evening, I will sail in to-morrow
early, and burn the Japanese and Chinese vessels in the harbor.” The
provisions and water were furnished, though the Japanese were very
unwilling to have Goseman return on board. This done, the two Dutchmen
were dismissed.

The governor, however, was still intent upon calling the foreign ship
to account. One scheme was to prevent her departure by sinking vessels,
laden with stones, in the channel. The prince of Ōmura proposed to
burn her, by means of boats filled with reeds and straw, offering
himself to lead; but while these schemes were under discussion, the
frigate weighed and sailed out of the harbor. The affair, however,
had a tragical ending. Within half an hour after her departure, the
governor, to save himself from impending disgrace, cut himself open, as
did several officers of the harbor-guard. The prince of Hizen, though
resident at Yedo at the time, was imprisoned a hundred days, for the
negligence of his servants in the maintenance of the guard, and was
also required to pay an annual pension to the son of the self-executed
governor, whom Doeff, on again visiting Yedo in 1810, found to be in
high favor at court.[87]

Up to 1809,[88] the ships from Batavia had arrived regularly; but
from that time till 1818 neither goods nor news reached the lonely
Dutchmen at Deshima. The first and second failure they bore with some
resignation, looking confidently forward to the next year; “but, alas!”
says our by this time very thirsty, and somewhat ragged, director,
“it passed away without relief or intelligence, either from Europe or
Batavia! All our provision from Java was by this time consumed. Butter
we had not seen since the supply of 1807, for the ship “Goede Frouw”
(good wife, but not good housewife) “had brought us none in 1809. To
the honor of the Japanese, I must acknowledge that they did everything
in their power to supply our special wants.... The inspector, Shige
Dennozen, among others, gave himself much trouble to distil gin for
us, for which purpose I supplied him with a still-kettle and a tin
worm, which I chanced to possess. He had tolerable success, but
could not remove the resinous flavor of the juniper. The corn spirit
(whiskey), which he managed to distil, was excellent. As we had also
been without wine since the supply of 1807, with the exception of a
small quantity brought by the “Goede Frouw,” he likewise endeavored
to press it for us from the wild grapes of the country, but with less
success. He obtained, indeed, a red and fermented liquor, but it was
not wine. I myself endeavored to make beer; and, with the help of the
domestic dictionaries of Chaud and Bays, I got so far as to produce
a whitish liquor, with something of the flavor of the white beer of
Haerlem, but which would not keep above four days, as I could not make
it work sufficiently, and had no bitter with which to flavor it. Our
great deficiency was in the articles of shoes and winter clothing.
We procured Japanese slippers of straw, and covered the instep with
undressed leather, and thus draggled along the street. Long breeches we
manufactured from an old carpet which I had by me. Thus we provided for
our wants as well as we could. There was no distinction among us. Every
one who had saved anything threw it into the common stock, and we thus
lived under a literal community of goods.”

Great was the delight of our disconsolate director, when, in the spring
of 1813, two vessels appeared in the offing of Nagasaki, displaying
the Dutch flag, and making the private signals agreed upon in 1809. A
letter was brought on shore, announcing the arrival from Batavia of
Heer Waardenaar, Doeff’s predecessor as director, to act as warehouse
master, of Heer Cassa, to succeed Doeff as director, and of three
assistants or clerks. A Japanese officer and one of the Dutch clerks
were sent on board. The Japanese speedily returned, saying that he had
recognized Waardenaar, who had declined, however, to deliver his papers
except to Doeff personally, and that all the officers spoke English,
whence he concluded that the ships must be chartered Americans. Doeff
went on board, and was received by Waardenaar with such evident
embarrassment, that Doeff declined to open the package of papers
which he presented, except at Deshima, whither he was accompanied by
Waardenaar. This package being opened was found to contain a paper
signed “Raffles, Lieutenant-governor of Java and its Dependencies,”
appointing Waardenaar and a Dr. Ainslie commissioners in Japan. In
reply to his question, “Who is Raffles?” Doeff learned that Holland
had been annexed to France, and Java occupied by the English. But
the annexation of Holland to France, Doeff patriotically refused to
believe, and, in spite of all the efforts of Waardenaar to shake his
resolution, he declined obedience to an order coming from a colony in
hostile occupation.

His mind thus made up, Doeff called in the Japanese interpreters, and
communicated to them the true state of the case. Alarmed for their
own safety, they made to Waardenaar frightful representations of the
probable massacre of the crews and burning of the vessels, should this
secret go any further,—especially considering the hostile feelings
towards the English, excited by the proceedings of the “Phaeton” in
1808; and finally the commissioners were persuaded to enter into an
arrangement by which Doeff was to remain as director, and was to
proceed to dispose of the cargoes as usual, first paying out of the
proceeds the debt which, since 1807, the factory had been obliged to
contract for its sustenance. Ainslee was also to remain as factory
physician, but passing as an American.[89]

The cost of the cargoes, as given by Raffles, with freight and
charges, amounted to two hundred and seventy-three thousand one
hundred and fifty Spanish dollars. Out of the proceeds in Japan had
to be paid forty-eight thousand six hundred and forty-eight dollars,
debts of the factory; and twenty-five thousand dollars for copper to
make up the cargo, bought of Doeff at a higher rate than was paid the
Japanese. There were left at the factory four thousand six hundred and
eighty-eight dollars in cash, and fifteen thousand dollars in woollens,
and advances were made to persons on board, to be repaid in Batavia,
to the amount of three thousand six hundred and seventy-eight dollars;
thus swelling the whole expenses to three hundred and seventy thousand
one hundred and sixty-four dollars; whereas the copper and camphor of
the return cargo produced only three hundred and forty-two thousand one
hundred and twenty-six dollars, thus leaving an outgo on the voyage
of twenty-eight thousand and thirty-eight dollars, which the credits
in Japan and Batavia were hardly sufficient to balance. These ships
carried out an elephant as a present to the emperor; but, though it
excited great curiosity, the Japanese declined to receive it, alleging
the difficulty of transporting it to Yedo.

In 1814, a single ship was sent from Batavia with Heer Cassa again on
board. He brought tidings of the insurrection in Europe against France,
and relied upon the probable speedy restoration of Java as an argument
for inducing Doeff to submit temporarily to the English,—an object
which Sir Stamford Raffles had very much at heart. When Doeff refused,
Cassa resorted to intrigue. He gained over two of the interpreters,
through whom he endeavored to induce at Yedo a refusal to allow Doeff
(whose term of office had already been so unusually protracted)
to remain any longer as director. Doeff, however, got wind of this
intrigue, frightened the two interpreters by threatening to tell the
whole story to the governor of Nagasaki, and finally carried the day.
He paid, however, rather dearly for his obstinacy, as Raffles sent no
more ships, and director Doeff was obliged to pass three years more
without either goods or news, cooped up and kept on short allowance
in his little island, with the satisfaction, however, that there, if
nowhere else in the world, the flag of Holland still continued to wave.

The Japanese government, obliged to advance the means for the support
of the factory, did not leave the director entirely idle. He was set to
work, with the aid of ten Japanese interpreters, in compiling a Dutch
and Japanese dictionary, for the use of the Japanese men of science
and the imperial interpreters. A copy of this work was deposited in
the imperial library at Yedo; another, made by Doeff for his own use,
lost, with all his other papers and effects, on his return to Europe.
The original rough draft of the work was found afterwards, however, at
Deshima, by Herr Fisscher, and having made a transcript, though less
perfect than the original, he brought it home in 1829, and deposited it
in the royal museum at Amsterdam.[90]

[Illustration: A COOLIE WITH STRAW RAINCOAT]

Thunberg, as we have seen, could hear nothing of semi-Dutch children
born in Japan. There were such, however, in Doeff’s time; and it
appears, from an incidental remark of his, that although no birth was
allowed to take place at Deshima, yet that the Japanese female inmates
of the factory were permitted to nurse their infants in the houses
of their Dutch fathers. At a very early age, however, these children
were taken away to be educated as pure Japanese, being allowed to
visit their fathers only at certain specified intervals. The fathers,
however, were expected to provide for them, and to obtain for them, by
purchase, some government office.




CHAPTER XLIII

 _Golownin’s Capture and Imprisonment—Conveyance to Hakodate—Reception
 and Imprisonment—Interpreters—Interviews with the Governor—Removal
 to Matsumae—A Pupil in Russian—A Japanese Astronomer—Escape
 and Recapture—Treatment afterwards—Savans from Yedo—Japanese
 Science—European News—A Japanese Free-thinker—Soldiers—Their
 Amusements—Thoughts on a Wedding—Domestic Arrangements—New
 Year—Return of the “Diana”—Reprisals—A Japanese Merchant and his
 Female Friend—Second Return of the “Diana”—Third Return of the
 “Diana”—Interview on Shore—Surrender of the Prisoners—Japanese
 Notification—The Merchant at Home—The Merchant Class in Japan—A.D.
 1811-1813._


While, by the first interruption of the communication with Batavia,
Doeff and his companions were secluded at Deshima, a number of
Europeans were held in a still stricter imprisonment at the northern
extremity of Japan.

Captain Golownin, an educated and intelligent Russian naval officer,
had been commissioned in 1811, as commander of the sloop of war
“Diana,” to survey the southern Kurile Islands, in which group the
Russians include both Sakhalin and Yezo, which they reckon as the
twenty-first and twenty-second Kuriles. At the southern extremity of
Etorofu, the nineteenth Kurile, some Japanese were first met with (July
13). Soon after, Golownin, with two officers, four men, and a Kurile
interpreter, having landed at a bay on the southern end of Kunashiri,
the twentieth Kurile, where the Japanese had a settlement and a
garrison, they were invited into the fort, and made prisoners. Thence
they were taken, partly by water and partly by land, to Hakodate,
already mentioned as a Japanese town at the southern extremity of Yezo.
This journey occupied four weeks, in which, by Golownin’s calculation,
they travelled between six and seven hundred miles. The Japanese stated
it at two hundred and fifty-five of their leagues. The route followed
was along the east coast of the island. Every two miles or so there was
a populous village, from all of which extensive fisheries were carried
on, evidently the great business of the inhabitants. The fish were
caught in great nets, hundreds at once. The best were of the salmon
species, but every kind of marine animal was eaten. The gathering of
sea-weeds for food (of the kind called by the Russians sea-cabbage[91])
also constituted a considerable branch of industry. In the northern
villages the inhabitants were principally native Kuriles, with a few
Japanese officers. Within a hundred and twenty or thirty miles of
Hakodate the villages were inhabited entirely by Japanese, and were
much larger and handsomer than those further north, having gardens and
orchards, and distinguished by their scrupulous neatness; but even
the Kurile inhabitants of Yezo were far superior in civilization and
comforts to those of the more northern islands belonging to Russia.

When first seized by the Japanese, the Russians were bound with cords,
some about the thickness of a finger, and others still smaller. They
were all tied exactly alike (according to the prescribed method for
binding those arrested on criminal charges), the cords for each having
the same number of knots and nooses, and all at equal distances. There
were loops round their breasts and necks; their elbows were drawn
almost into contact behind their backs, and their hands were firmly
bound together. From these fastenings proceeded a long cord, the end of
which was held by a Japanese, who, on the slightest attempt to escape,
had only to pull it to make the elbows come in contact with great
pain, and so to tighten the noose about the neck as almost to produce
strangulation. Their legs were also tied together above the ankles
and above the knees. Thus tied, they were conveyed all the way to
Hakodate, having the choice, for the land part of the route, either to
be carried in a rude sort of palanquin formed of planks, on which they
were obliged to lie flat, or to walk, which they generally preferred
as less irksome, and for which purpose the cords about the ankles were
removed, and those above the knees loosened. The cords were drawn so
tight as to be very painful, and even after a while to cut into the
flesh; yet, though in all other respects the Japanese seemed inclined
to consult the comfort of the prisoners, they would not, for the first
six or seven days, be induced to loosen them, of which the chief reason
turned out to be their apprehension lest the prisoners might commit
suicide,—that being the Japanese resource under such extremities.

Their escort consisted of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred
men. Two Japanese guides from the neighboring villages, changed at each
new district, led the way, bearing handsomely-carved staves. Then came
three soldiers, then Captain Golownin with a soldier on one side, and
on the other an attendant with a twig to drive off the gnats, which
were troublesome, and against which his bound hands prevented him from
defending himself. Behind came an officer holding the ends of the ropes
by which the prisoner was bound, then a party of Kuriles, bearing his
kago, followed by another relief party. The other captives followed,
one by one, escorted in the same manner. Finally came three soldiers,
and a number of Japanese and Kurile servants carrying provisions and
baggage. Each of the escort had a wooden tablet, suspended from his
girdle, on which were inscribed his duties and which prisoner he was
stationed with; and the commanding officer had a corresponding list of
the whole. The prisoners had the same fare with the escort,—three meals
a day, generally of rice boiled to a thick gruel, two pieces of pickled
radish[92] for seasoning, soup made of radishes or various wild roots
and herbs, a kind of macaroni, and a piece of broiled or boiled fish.
Sometimes they had stewed mushrooms, and each a hard-boiled egg. Their
general drink was very indifferent tea, without sugar, and sometimes
sake. Their conductors frequently stopped at the villages to rest, or
to drink tea and smoke tobacco, and they also rested for an hour after
dinner. They halted for the night an hour or two before sunset, usually
in a village with a small garrison. They were always conducted first to
the front of the house of the officer in command, and were seated on
benches covered with mats, when the officer came out to inspect them.
They were then taken to a neat house (which generally, when they first
entered, was hung round with striped cotton cloth), and were placed
together in one apartment, the ends of their ropes being fastened to
iron hooks in the walls. Their boots and stockings were pulled off, and
their feet bathed in warm water with salt in it. For bedding they had
the Japanese mattresses—quilts with a thick wadding—folded double.

After the first six or seven days their bonds were loosened, and they
got on more comfortably. The Japanese took the greatest care of their
health, not allowing them to wet their feet, carrying them across the
shallowest streams, and furnishing them with quilted Japanese gowns as
a protection against the rain.

At Hakodate they were received by a great crowd, among which were
several persons with silk dresses mounted on horses with rich
caparisons. “Both sides of the road,” says Golownin, “were crowded
with spectators, yet every one behaved with the utmost decorum. I
particularly marked their countenances, and never once observed a
malicious look, or any sign of hatred towards us, and none showed the
least disposition to insult us by mockery or derision.” He had observed
the same thing in the villages through which they had passed, where
the prisoners had received, as they did afterwards, from numerous
individuals, many touching instances of commiseration and sympathy.

At Hakodate they were confined in a prison, a high wooden enclosure,
or fence, surrounded by an earthen wall somewhat lower (and on their
first approach to it hung with striped cloth),[93] inside of which
was a long, barn-like building. Within this building were a number of
small apartments, scarcely six feet square, formed of thick spars, and
exactly like cages, in which the prisoners were shut up, the passages
and other spaces being occupied by the guards.[94] Their food was much
worse than on the journey (probably Japanese prison fare), boiled rice,
soup of warm water and grated radish, a handful of finely chopped young
onions with boiled beans, and one or two pickled cucumbers or radishes.
Instead of the radish-soup, puddings of bean-meal and rancid fish-oil
were sometimes served. Very rarely they had half a fish, with soy.
Their drink was warm water, and occasionally bad tea.

Their only means of communicating with the Japanese had been, at first,
a Kurile, one of the prisoners, who knew a little Russian, and probably
about as much Japanese. At Hakodate another interpreter presented
himself; but he, a man of fifty, naturally stupid, and knowing nothing
of any European language, except a little Russian, did not prove much
better.

The second day they were conducted through the streets, by a guard of
soldiers (the prisoners each with a rope round his waist held by a
Japanese), to a fort or castle, which was surrounded by palisades and
an earthen wall. Within was a court-yard, in the centre of which was
a brass cannon on a badly constructed carriage. From this court-yard
Golownin, and after him each of the others, was conducted through a
wide gate, which was immediately shut behind them, into a large hall,
of which half had a pavement of small stones. The other half had a
floor, or platform, raised three feet from the ground, and covered with
curiously wrought mats. The hall was fifty or sixty feet long, of equal
breadth, eighteen feet high, and divided by movable screens, neatly
painted, from other adjoining rooms. There were two or three apertures
for windows, with paper instead of glass, admitting an obscure, gloomy
light. The governor sat on the floor, in the middle of the elevated
platform, with two secretaries behind him. On his left (the Japanese
place of honor) was the next in command; on his right, another officer;
on each side of these, other officers of inferior rank. They all sat,
in the Japanese fashion, with their legs folded under them, two paces
apart, clothed in black dresses, their short swords in their girdles,
and their longer ones lying at their left. The new interpreter sat on
the edge of the raised floor, and an inferior officer at each of the
corners of it. On the walls hung irons for securing prisoners, ropes,
and various instruments of punishment. The Russian prisoners stood in
front of the raised floor, the officers in a line, the sailors behind.
The Kurile was seated on the stones. They underwent a very rigorous
and particular examination, all their answers being written down. The
questions related to their birthplaces; their families (and, when it
appeared that they came from different towns, how it happened that they
served on board the same ship); the burden and force of their vessel;
their own rank; their object; their route since leaving St. Petersburg,
which they were required to trace on a chart, etc., etc.

[Illustration: FARM SCENES: COOLIES CARRYING BAMBOO BASKETS; AN
IRRIGATION SYSTEM]

Among other things, the governor remarked that Laxman (who had visited
Japan in 1792) wore a long tail, and covered his hair with flour;
whereas the prisoners (powder and queues having gone out of fashion in
the interval) had their hair cut short and unpowdered; and he asked
if some change of religion had not taken place in Russia. When told
that in Russia there was no connection between religion and the way of
wearing the hair, the Japanese laughed, but expressed great surprise
that there should not be some express law on the subject.

Eighteen days after, they had a second examination, on which occasion a
letter, of which the Japanese wanted an interpretation, was delivered
to them. It had been sent on shore from their ship along with
their baggage, expressing a determination to return to Okhotsk for
reinforcements, and never to quit the coast of Japan till the prisoners
were rescued. This reexamination was continued for two days, in which
many inquiries were made about Chwostoff, and the papers he had left
behind him, one of which was produced. The Russian prisoners tried to
make out that the proceedings of Chwostoff were without authority from
the Russian government; but the Japanese evidently did not believe them.

After one or two more examinations they were removed to Matsumae,
guarded, as before, by soldiers, but furnished with horses, as well as
litters or kagos, on or in which the prisoners were suffered to ride,
the Japanese, however, retaining the end of a rope by which they were
still bound. Near Matsumae, they were shown a battery on a high hill,
intended to command the harbor, but ill adapted for that purpose. It
had three or four small brass pieces on carriages, and an eighteen
or a twenty-four pounder, apparently cast in Europe, mounted on
cross-beams. Matsumae lies on a large, open bay, with four fathoms of
water at low tide; and according to the Japanese, is about two hundred
of their leagues (five hundred miles) from Yedo, the land journey
thither, after crossing the strait, being made in twenty-three days.

A great crowd collected to see them enter the town, ropes being
stretched to keep the passage clear. Confined in a prison much like
the one at Hakodate, and close under the ramparts of the castle, they
underwent many more examinations before the bugiō or governor of
Matsumae. The inquisitiveness of their questioners, which seemed to be
without limit, proved a great torment to the Russians, and sometimes
put them into a passion; but the Japanese were always cool and polite.
They were supplied with much better food than at Hakodate, fresh and
salt fish, boiled or fried in poppy-seed oil, with soy for sauce. They
also had, after the winter set in, flesh of sea-dogs, hares, and bears,
and attempts were even made to cook for them after the Russian fashion.
For drink they had tea[95] and warm sake. They were furnished with warm
clothing, both their own which had been sent on shore for them; and
Japanese gowns, for which a tailor was sent to measure them; and, when
the weather grew colder, they had hearths, after the Japanese fashion,
made in the prison, at a little distance from each cage, on which
charcoal fires were kept burning. A physician visited them daily to
look after their health, and if anything serious appeared he brought a
consulting physician with him.

After a time their accommodations were much improved. Instead of
confinement in separate cages, they had a large room covered with mats.
A young man, named Murakami Teisuke, was now brought to them, whom
they were requested to instruct in the Russian language. He proved a
very apt scholar, made rapid progress, soon learned to speak, read and
write Russian, and became very much attached to his instructors. They
in their turn learned something of Japanese; but it was forbidden to
teach them the written characters. Teisuke was exceedingly anxious to
collect statistical information concerning Russia. A Japanese man of
science, who had an English sextant, a compass, a case of mathematical
instruments, etc., also paid them a visit. He knew how to find the
latitude by observing the sun’s altitude at noon, using in his
calculations some tables obtained, as he said, from a Dutch book; and
he was exceedingly anxious to gain additional information, especially
how to find the longitude by lunar observations; but this, for want of
the necessary tables, the Russians, much to his disgust, were unable to
teach him.

The first snow fell about the middle of October, but soon melted. The
winter set in about the middle of November, with deep snows, which
lasted till April.

As the spring opened they were permitted to take walks and excursions
in the vicinity of the town, and were presently removed to a house,
composed of three apartments, separated by screens; but were still
closely watched and guarded. Tired of this confinement, of which
they could see no end, the Russians succeeded in getting out of their
prison, and in gaining the mountains back of the town, whence they
descended to the coast, hoping to find some means of escape by sea.
But, after seven days’ wanderings and many sufferings, they were
retaken. The island was found to be composed of steep hills, separated
by precipitous ravines, with hardly any plain land, except near the
coast. The interior was uninhabited, except by wood-cutters employed in
getting timber and preparing charcoal.

When retaken, they were confined in the common jail of the town, but
their accommodations were not worse than they had been in the other two
prisons. No ill-will was shown towards them by any of the officials,
not even by those whose lives their flight had endangered. The soldier
who was held the most responsible for their escape, and who had been
degraded in consequence to the rank of a common servant, showed even
more alacrity than before in their behalf. In a month or two they
were removed back to their former prison, where they were visited the
next spring (1814) by an interpreter of the Dutch language, who had
come from Yedo, and by a learned man from the same capital, who was
indeed no other than Doeff’s astronomer Globius, but known to the
Russians as Adachi Sanai, both of whom desired to learn the Russian
language. The interpreter, a young man of twenty-seven, and already
acquainted with the rules of European grammar, made rapid progress,
and soon applied himself to translate a treatise on vaccination, which
one of the returned Japanese had brought from Russia. The astronomer
busied himself in translating a Russian school treatise on arithmetic,
carried to Japan by one of the Japanese conveyed home by Laxman in
1792. It was evident that he had considerable mathematical learning.
The Japanese astronomers had made decided progress since the time of
Thunberg. Globius understood the Copernican system, was acquainted
with the orbit and satellites of Uranus; knew the nature and doctrine
of sines and tangents, and was familiar with the difference between
the old and new styles. He assured Golownin that the Japanese could
calculate eclipses with much exactness, and he studied with great
attention a treatise on physics, which, with other books, had been sent
on shore in Golownin’s chest.

Nor were the Japanese without knowledge of the revolutions going on
in Europe. The Russians were told the news of the taking of Moscow,
brought to Nagasaki by the two vessels from Batavia; but with
patriotism equal to that shown by Doeff, in relation to the annexation
of Holland to France, they refused to believe it. The Japanese gave
them a minute description of these two vessels, and also of the
elephant which they brought, his length, height, thickness, food, etc.
A native of Sumatra, the keeper of the elephant, was described with
equal minuteness.

Teisuke, whom Golownin had taught Russian, was found to be quite a
free-thinker, both in politics and religion; but, in general, the
Japanese seemed very superstitious, of which, presently, we shall see
some instances.

The soldiers Golownin observed to be of two classes, those of the local
administration, and others whom he calls imperial soldiers, and who
appear, by his description, to be precisely the same with those whom
Kämpfer describes under the name of Dōshin, as attached to the service
of the governor of Nagasaki, and indeed, this same name, in a modified
form, is given to them by Golownin. They took precedence of the others,
and were so handsomely clothed and equipped as to be mistaken at first
for officers. The profession of arms, like most others in Japan, is
hereditary. The arms of the soldiers, besides the two swords, were
matchlocks,—which, when they fired, they placed, not against the
shoulder, but the right cheek,—bows and arrows, and long pikes, heavy
and inconvenient.

They could all read, and spent much time in reading aloud, which they
did much in the same droning, half-chanting tone in which the psalms
are read at funerals in Russia. Great surprise was expressed that the
Russian sailors were unable to read and write; and, also, that but one
Russian book was found in the officer’s baggage, and that on much worse
paper, and much worse bound, than those they had in French and other
languages. It was shrewdly asked if the Russians did not know how to
print books?

Playing at cards and draughts was a very common amusement. The cards
were at first known to the Japanese by their European names, and were
fifty-two in the pack. Owing, however, to the pecuniary losses—for the
Japanese were great gamesters—and fatal disputes to which cards gave
rise, they were strictly prohibited. But this law was evaded by the
invention of a pack of forty-eight cards much smaller than those of
Europe. Their game at draughts was extremely difficult and complicated.
They made use of a large board, and four hundred men, which they moved
about in many directions, and which were liable to be taken in various
ways. The Russian sailors played at draughts in the European way,
which the Japanese soon learned to imitate, so that the game, and the
Russian terms employed in playing it, soon became familiar throughout
the city of Matsumae.

The following anecdote throws some light on Japanese domestic
relations: “Our interpreter, Uyehara Kumajirō (this was the first
interpreter), visited us the day after the marriage of his daughter,
and having mentioned the marriage, said that he had wept very much.
‘Why wept,’ said we, ‘since on such occasions it is usual only to
rejoice?’ ‘Certainly,’ he answered, ‘I should have rejoiced, were I but
convinced that the man will love my daughter and make her happy; but,
as the contrary often happens in the married state, a father who gives
his daughter to a husband cannot be indifferent, for fear of future
misfortunes.’ He spoke this with tears in his eyes, and in a voice
which affected us.”

Of the value which the Japanese put upon female society the following
curious instance occurred. The prisoners’ meals were at one time
superintended by an old officer of sixty, who was very civil, and
frequently consoled them with assurances that they should be sent home.
One day he brought them three portraits of Japanese ladies, richly
dressed, which, after examining, they handed back; but the old man
insisted they should keep them, and, when asked why, he observed that,
when time hung heavy on their hands, they might console themselves by
looking at them!

For the first fortnight of the new year all business was suspended.
Nothing was thought of except visiting and feasting. In the latter half
of the month the more industrious resumed their employments. All who
can, procure new clothes on this occasion, and the Japanese insisted
upon furnishing their prisoners in the same way. “Custom requires,”
says Golownin, “that each person should visit all his acquaintances
in the place in which he resides, and send letters of congratulation
to those who are at a distance. Our interpreters and guards were
accordingly employed, for some days previous to the festival, in
writing letters of that kind and visiting-cards. On the latter the
names of the person from whom the card comes, and for whom it is
intended, are written, and the opportunity by which it is presented
is also noted. Teisuke translated for us one of his congratulatory
letters, addressed to the officer at Kunashiri by whom we had been
entrapped, and which was to the following effect: “Last year you were
happy, and I greatly desire that this new year you may enjoy good
health, and experience happiness and prosperity in every undertaking. I
still respect you as formerly, and request that you will not forget me.

  TEISUKE.”

It is evident, from Golownin’s narrative, that the houses, furniture,
and domestic arrangement, at Matsumae, notwithstanding the coldness
of the climate, differed in nothing from those in use in the more
southerly islands. The Japanese, Golownin observed, were, compared with
the Russians, very small eaters. They were also much more temperate
in drinking, it being looked upon as disgraceful to be drunk in the
daytime, or at any time, extraordinary festivities excepted.

[Illustration: ARTISANS FOR THE COMMON PEOPLE: REPAIRING WOODEN CLOGS;
REPAIRING TATAMI]

Late in the summer following the capture of Golownin and his
companions, the “Diana,” now under the command of Captain Rikord, came
back to Kunashiri. Of the two Japanese seized by Chwostoff, one had
died. The other, who called himself Ryōzayemon, Rikord had on board,
along with six other Japanese, lately shipwrecked on Kamtschatka,
hoping to exchange these seven for the seven Russians. On reaching the
bay where Golownin had been taken, he saw a new battery of fourteen
guns. All the buildings were covered with striped cloth, the boats were
drawn up on the shore, and not a person appeared.

Ryōzayemon, in his six years’ captivity, had learned some Russian,
and he was employed to write a short letter from Captain Rikord to
the commander on shore, stating his having brought back the seven
Japanese, and requesting the restoration of his countrymen. From some
circumstances, the good faith of Ryōzayemon was suspected, and the
contents of the letter written by him rather distrusted; still it was
finally sent on shore by one of the Japanese, upon whom the batteries
fired as he landed, and who returned no more.

Three days after, a second Japanese was sent with a written message
in the Russian language; but he came back, saying that the governor
had refused to receive it, and that he had been himself thrust out of
the castle. As a last resource, Ryōzayemon—who represented himself as
a merchant, and a person of some consequence, though in fact he had
been only a fishing agent—was sent on shore, with another Japanese,
on his promise to return with such information as he could obtain. He
did return, without the other, and stated that the Russians were all
dead. Sent on shore to obtain in writing a confirmation of this verbal
statement, he came back no more.

Rikord now determined to seize any Japanese vessel that might be
entering or leaving the harbor. A large Japanese ship soon appeared,
from which, as the Russian boats approached her, several of her crew
of sixty men jumped into the water. Nine were drowned, some escaped
to the shore, and others were picked up by the Russian boats. The
captain, who was taken on board the “Diana,” appeared, from his rich
yellow dress, his swords, and other circumstances, to be a person of
distinction. Being interrogated in Japanese, of which Rikord had picked
up a little from Ryōzayemon, he answered with great frankness that his
name was Takataya Kahei, that he was the owner of ten ships, and bound
from Yetorofu (the nineteenth Kurile) to Hakodate with a cargo of dried
fish, but had been obliged by contrary winds to put into the bay of
Kunashiri.

Being shown the letter written by Ryōzayemon, he exclaimed, “Captain
Moor[96] and five Russians are now in the city of Matsumae.” This
information was hardly credited, and Rikord finally resolved to convey
his captive to Kamtschatka, hoping, in the course of the winter,
to obtain through him some information respecting the fate of the
Russians, and the views of the Japanese government, especially as he
seemed far superior to any of the Japanese with whom they had hitherto
met, and therefore more likely to understand the policy of those who
ruled in Japan.

“I informed him,” says Rikord, “that he must hold himself in readiness
to accompany me to Russia, and explained the circumstances which
compelled me to make such an arrangement. He understood me perfectly,
and when I proceeded to state my belief that Captain Golownin, Mr.
Moor, and the rest of the Russian prisoners had been put to death,
he suddenly interrupted me, exclaiming, ‘That is not true. Captain
Moor and five Russians are living in Matsumae, where they are well
treated, and enjoy the freedom of walking about the city, accompanied
by two officers.’ When I intimated that we intended to take him with
us, he replied, with astonishing coolness, ‘Well, I am ready’; and
merely requested that, on our arrival in Russia, he might continue to
live with me. This I promised he should do, and likewise that I would
carry him back to Japan in the ensuing year. He then seemed perfectly
reconciled to his unlooked-for destiny.

“The four Japanese, who still remained on board the ship, understood
not a word of Russian, and were, besides, so afflicted with the
scurvy[97] that they would, in all probability, have perished had
they wintered in Kamtschatka. I therefore thought it advisable to set
them at liberty, and, having furnished them with every necessary, I
ordered them to be put on shore, hoping that they would, in gratitude,
give a good account of the Russians to their countrymen.[98] In their
stead, I determined to take four seamen from the Japanese vessel, who
might be useful in attending on Kahei, to whom I left the choice of
the individuals. He earnestly entreated that none of the seamen might
be taken, observing that they were extremely stupid, and that he
feared they would die of grief, owing to the dread they entertained
of the Russians. The earnestness of his solicitations led me in some
measure to doubt that our comrades were really living in Matsumae, and
I repeated, in a decided manner, my determination to take four of the
seamen. He then begged that I would accompany him to his ship. When
he went on board, he assembled the whole of his crew in the cabin,
and, having seated himself on a long cushion, which was placed on a
fine mat, requested that I would take my place beside him. The sailors
all knelt down (seated themselves on their heels?) before us, and he
delivered a long speech, in which he stated that it would be necessary
for some of them to accompany us to Russia.

“Here a very affecting scene was exhibited. A number of the seamen
approached him, with their heads bent downwards, and, with great
eagerness, whispered something to him. Their countenances were all
bathed in tears; even Kahei, who had hitherto evinced calmness and
resolution, seemed now to be deeply distressed, and began to weep.
I for some time hesitated to carry my resolution into effect, and
was only induced to adhere to it by the consideration that I would
hereafter have the opportunity of interrogating each individual
separately, and probably thereby ascertaining whether or not our
comrades were really alive in Matsumae. I had, however, in other
respects, no reason to repent of this determination, for the Japanese
merchant, who was accustomed to live in a style of Asiatic luxury,
would have experienced serious inconvenience on board our vessel
without his Japanese attendants, two of whom were always, by turns,
near his person.

“Kahei, and the sailors he selected, soon behaved as though our
ship had been their own, and we, on our side, employed every means
to convince them that we considered the Japanese, not as a hostile,
but as a friendly nation, with whom our good understanding was only
accidentally interrupted.

“The same day we received on board, at my invitation, from the captured
vessel, a Japanese lady, who had been the inseparable companion of
Kahei on his voyage from Hakodate, his place of residence, to Etorofu.
She was extremely desirous of seeing our ship, and the strange people
and polite enemies, as she styled us, and to witness our friendly
intercourse with her countrymen. A Japanese lady was also, to us, no
slight object of curiosity. When she came on board, she appeared very
timid and embarrassed. I requested Kahei to conduct her into my cabin,
and, as she advanced, I took her by the other hand. On reaching the
cabin-door, she wished to take off her straw shoes; but, as there were
neither mats nor carpets in my cabin, I explained to her, by signs,
that this singular mark of politeness might be dispensed with among us.

“On entering the cabin, she placed both hands on her head, with
the palms outwards, and saluted us by bending her body very low.
I conducted her to a chair, and Kahei requested her to sit down.
Fortunately for this unexpected visitor, there was on board our
vessel a young and handsome woman, the wife of our surgeon’s mate.
The Japanese lady seemed highly pleased on being introduced to her,
and they quickly formed an intimacy. Our countrywoman endeavored to
entertain the foreigner with what the women of all countries delight
in—she showed her her trinkets. Our visitor behaved with all the
ease of a woman of fashion; she examined the ornaments with great
curiosity, and expressed her admiration by an agreeable smile. But
the fair complexion of our countrywoman seemed most of all to attract
her attention. She passed her hands over the Russian woman’s face, as
though she suspected it had been painted, and, with a smile, exclaimed,
‘_Yoi! yoi!_’ which signifies _good_. I observed that our visitor was
somewhat vain of her new ornaments, and I held a looking-glass before
her that she might see how they became her. The Russian lady placed
herself immediately behind her, in order to show her the difference
of their complexions, when she immediately pushed the glass aside,
and said, ‘_-Warui! warui!_’—_not good_. She might herself have been
called handsome; her face was of the oval form, her features regular,
and her little mouth, when open, disclosed a set of shining black
lackered teeth. Her black eyebrows, which had the appearance of having
been pencilled, overarched a pair of sparkling dark eyes, which were by
no means deeply seated. Her hair was black, and rolled up in the form
of a turban, without any ornament, except a few small tortoise-shell
combs. She was about the middle size, and elegantly formed. Her dress
consisted of six wadded silk garments, similar to our night-gowns,
each fastened round the lower part of the waist by a separate band,
and drawn close together from the girdle downwards. They were all of
different colors, the outer one black. Her articulation was slow, and
her voice soft. Her countenance was expressive and interesting, and
she was, altogether, calculated to make a very agreeable impression.
She could not be older than eighteen. We entertained her with fine
green tea and sweetmeats, of which she ate and drank moderately. On
her taking leave, I made her some presents, with which she appeared to
be much pleased. I hinted to our countrywoman that she should embrace
her, and when the Japanese observed what was intended, she ran into her
arms, and kissed her with a smile.”

The Japanese merchant, at Rikord’s request, wrote a letter to the
commander at Kunashiri, detailing the state of affairs. No answer was
returned, and when an attempt was made to land for water, the boats
were fired upon, as was the “Diana” herself, whenever she approached
the shore; but the aim was so bad as to excite the derision of the
Russians.

During the winter passed in Kamtschatka, the Japanese merchant
continued to gain in the good opinion of his captors, whose language
he so far mastered as to be able to converse in it even on abstract
subjects. He seemed to interest himself much in arranging the
misunderstanding between the Russian and Japanese governments, and
expressed his wish, which he said was shared by others of his class,
to see a commercial intercourse opened between the two nations; and it
was at his suggestion that Rikord sent to the governor of Irkutsk for a
disavowal of the hostile acts of Chwostoff.

Kahei remained in good health and spirits till the middle of winter,
when the death of two of his Japanese attendants greatly affected him.
He became melancholy and peevish, asserted that he had the scurvy,
and told the surgeon he should certainly die; but his real disorder
was home-sickness, aggravated by apprehensions of being detained at
Okhotsk, whither Rikord had intended to sail before proceeding to
Japan, in order to get the disavowal above referred to. As Kahei’s
assistance seemed essential, Rikord, fearing lest he might die,
resolved to sail direct for Japan as soon as the vessel could be cut
from the ice,—a resolution by which Kahei’s spirits were greatly raised.

They arrived in Kunashiri bay in June, 1813. The buildings were, as
formerly, concealed by striped cotton cloth, but no guns were fired,
and not a living being was to be seen. When the two Japanese sailors
were about to be sent on shore, Rikord, somewhat excited at their
master’s declining to pledge himself for their return, bade them say to
the governor, that if he prevented them from returning, or sent back
no information, their master should be carried to Okhotsk, whence some
ships of war should immediately come to demand the liberation of the
Russians.

“At these words,” says Rikord, “Kahei changed countenance, but said,
with much calmness, ‘Commander of the imperial ship’—he always
addressed me thus on important occasions—‘thou counsellest rashly. Thy
orders to the governor of Kunashiri seem to contain much, but according
to our laws they contain little. In vain dost thou threaten to carry me
to Okhotsk; my men may be detained on shore, but neither two, nor yet
two thousand sailors can answer for me. Therefore I give thee previous
notice that it will not be in thy power to take me to Okhotsk. But tell
me whether it be under these conditions only that my sailors are to be
sent on shore?’ ‘Yes,’ said I; ‘as commander of a ship of war, I cannot
under these circumstances act otherwise.’

[Illustration: SCENES IN THE HOME: THE DOCTOR’S CALL; HAIR-DRESSING; A
BLIND MASSEUR]

“‘Well,’ replied he, ‘allow me to give my sailors my last and most
urgent instructions, as to what they must communicate from me to the
governor of Kunashiri.’ He then rose up—for during this conversation
he sat, according to the Japanese custom, with his legs under him—and
addressed me very earnestly in the following terms: ‘You know enough
of Japanese to understand all that I may say in plain and easy words
to my sailors. I would not wish you to have any ground to suspect me
of hatching base designs.’ He then sat down again, when his sailors
approached him on their knees, and hanging down their heads, listened
with deep attention to his words. He reminded them circumstantially of
the day on which they were carried on board the ‘Diana,’ of the manner
in which they had been treated on board that ship and in Kamtschatka,
of their having inhabited the same house with me, and being carefully
provided for, of the death of their two countrymen, notwithstanding
all the attention bestowed upon them by the Russian physician, and,
finally, that the ship had hastily returned to Japan on account of
his own health. All this he directed them faithfully to relate, and
concluded with the warmest commendations of me, and earnest expressions
of gratitude for the care that I had taken of him by sea and on land.
He then sank into a deep silence and prayed, after which he delivered
to the sailor whom he most esteemed, his picture to be conveyed to
his wife, and his large sabre, which he called his paternal sword,
to be presented to his only son and heir. This solemn ceremony being
finished, he stood up, and with a frank and indeed very cheerful
expression of countenance, asked for some brandy to treat his sailors
at parting. He drank with them, and accompanied them on deck, when they
were landed, and proceeded without interruption towards the fortress.”

Rikord was a good deal troubled and alarmed at the air and manner of
Kahei; and finally, after consulting with his officers concluded to
dismiss him unconditionally, trusting to his honor for his doing his
best to procure the release of the Russians.

Kahei was greatly delighted at this mark of confidence, though he
declined to go on shore till the next day, as it would not conform to
Japanese ideas of etiquette for him to land on the same day with his
sailors. He confessed to Rikord that he had been greatly wounded by the
threat to carry him to Okhotsk. It was not consistent with Japanese
ideas, that a man of his position should remain a prisoner in a foreign
country, and he had therefore made up his mind to prevent it by cutting
himself open. He had accordingly cut off the tuft of hair from his
head,—and he showed that it was gone,—and had laid it in the box with
his picture; it being customary with those about to die honorably,
by their own hands, in a distant place, to send this token to their
friends, who bury the tuft of hair with all the ceremonies which they
would have bestowed upon the body. And he even intimated that previous
to doing this execution on himself, he might first have stabbed Rikord
and the next in command.

Kahei exerted himself with the greatest energy in the matter of
the negotiation, and he soon was able to produce a letter, in the
hand-writing of Golownin, and signed by him and Moor, but which the
jealousy of their keepers had limited to the simple announcement that
they were alive and well at Matsumae. Afterwards one of the imprisoned
Russian sailors was brought on board the ship, being sent from Matsumae
for that purpose; but, though allowed to spend his days on board the
“Diana,” he was required to return to the fort every night. In spite,
however, of all the watchfulness of the Japanese, he had brought sewed
up in his jacket a letter from Golownin, in which he recommended
prudence, civility, candor, and especially patience, and entreated that
no letters nor anything else should be sent him which might cause him
to be tormented with questions and translations.

The Japanese would not deliver up their prisoners till the “Diana”
first sailed to Okhotsk, and brought from the authorities there a
formal written disavowal of the hostilities of Chwostoff. At Okhotsk
was found the letter from the governor of Irkutsk, previously sent for
at Kahei’s suggestion, and with this document and another letter from
the commander at Okhotsk, the “Diana” reached Hakodate towards the end
of October.

“As we approached the town,” says Rikord, “we observed that cloth
was hung out only at a few places on the hill, or near it, and not
over the whole buildings, as at Kunashiri. With the assistance of
our telescopes, we observed six of these screens of cloth, probably
intended to conceal fortifications. There were, beside, five new
fortifications at short distances from each other, and from two to
three hundred fathoms from the shore.

“We no sooner entered the roads than we were surrounded by a number
of boats, of all descriptions and sizes, filled with the curious of
both sexes. A European ship must indeed have been to them an object of
uncommon interest; for, as far as I could ascertain, they had seen none
since they were visited twenty-two years before by Laxman.[99] Many of
the inhabitants, therefore, had never beheld a European vessel of any
kind, and still less a ship of war; they accordingly thronged about us
in vast numbers, and their curiosity frequently gave rise to disputes
among themselves. The Dōshin (soldiers), who were stationed in the
watch-boats, continually called to them to keep at a further distance;
but so great was the confusion that, though the people generally showed
great respect to the soldiers, their orders were on this occasion
disregarded. The military, therefore, were under the necessity of
using the iron batons which they wear fastened to their girdles by
long silken strings. They spared neither rank nor sex; old persons
alone experienced their indulgence, and we had various opportunities of
observing that the Japanese, in all situations, pay particular respect
to old age. In this case blows were freely dealt out to the young,
of every description, who ventured to disobey the commands of the
soldiers, and we were at length delivered from a multitude of visitors,
who would have subjected us to no small degree of inconvenience.”

Kahei came on board the next morning, and the letter from the governor
of Okhotsk was given to him to be transmitted to the governor of
Matsumae; but Captain Rikord refused to deliver the other letter,
except in person. After much negotiation the ceremonial for an
interview was arranged. The Japanese even conceded that the ten men
who landed with Rikord as his guard of honor should be allowed to take
their muskets with them; he, on his part, agreeing to land in the
Japanese governor’s barge, and, before entering the audience chamber,
to substitute, instead of his boots, shoes, which Kahei undertook
to pass off as leather stockings. Rikord had for his interpreter a
Japanese whom he had brought from Okhotsk, sent thither from Irkutsk,
and who bore the Russian name of Kesseleff. The Japanese had Teisuke,
who had learnt Russian of Golownin. The governor of Matsumae,
Hattori-Bingo-no-kami, was represented on this occasion by the governor
of Hakodate, and by an academician sent for the express purpose
of making observations on the Russian ship of war, and collecting
particulars respecting European science,—no other, indeed, than Doeff’s
friend, “Globius.”

The letter of the governor of Irkutsk was delivered, with great
formality, in a box covered with purple cloth. Rikord took it out, read
the address aloud, and returned it. Kesseleff, Rikord’s interpreter,
then handed the box to Teisuke, who raised it above his head, and
placed it in the hands of the junior commissioner, who delivered it to
the senior commissioner, who promised to deliver it to the bugiō, or
governor. An entertainment followed of tea and sweetmeats, during which
a Japanese was placed beside Rikord to receive and hand to him his
share of the eatables.

From the moment of the departure of the “Diana” for Okhotsk, Golownin
and his companions had begun to be treated rather as guests than
prisoners. They were soon conveyed back to Hakodate, and at length,
after a confinement of more than two years, were delivered up to
Rikord, with a paper of which the following are the material parts:


   NOTIFICATION FROM THE GIMMIYAKU, THE CHIEF COMMANDERS NEXT TO THE
                          BUGIŌ, OF MATSUMAE.

 “Twenty-two years ago a Russian vessel arrived at Matsumae, and eleven
 years ago another came to Nagasaki. Though the laws of our country
 were on both those occasions minutely explained, yet we are of opinion
 that we have not been clearly understood on your part, owing to the
 great dissimilarity between our languages and writing. However, as
 we have now detained you, it will be easy to give you an explanation
 of these matters. When you return to Russia, communicate to the
 commanders of the coasts of Kamtschatka, Okhotsk, and others, the
 declaration of our bugiō, which will acquaint them with the nature of
 the Japanese laws with respect to the arrival of foreign ships, and
 prevent a repetition of similar transgressions on your part.

 “In our country the Christian religion is strictly prohibited, and
 European vessels are not suffered to enter any Japanese harbor except
 Nagasaki. This law does not extend to Russian vessels only. This
 year it has not been enforced, because we wished to communicate with
 your countrymen; but all that may henceforth present themselves will
 be driven back by cannon-balls. Bear in mind this declaration, and
 you cannot complain if at any future period you should experience a
 misfortune in consequence of your disregard of it.

 “Among us there exists this law: ‘If any European residing in Japan
 shall attempt to teach our people the Christian faith, he shall
 undergo a severe punishment, and shall not be restored to his native
 country.’ As you, however, have not attempted to do so, you will
 accordingly be permitted to return home. Think well on this.

 “Our countrymen wish to carry on no commerce with foreign lands, for
 we know no want of necessary things. Though foreigners are permitted
 to trade to Nagasaki, even to that harbor only those are admitted with
 whom we have for a long period maintained relations, and we do not
 trade with them for the sake of gain, but for other important objects.
 From the repeated solicitations which you have hitherto made to us,
 you evidently imagine that the customs of our country resemble those
 of your own; but you are very wrong in thinking so. In future, it will
 be better to say no more about a commercial connection.”

In all this business the efforts of Kahei had been indefatigable. At
first he was treated by his own countrymen with the suspicion and
reserve extended to all, even native Japanese, who come from a foreign
country. For a long time he was not permitted to visit Golownin. A
guard was set over him, and even his friends and relations could not
see him except in presence of an imperial soldier. In fact, according
to the Japanese laws, as a person just returned from a foreign country,
he ought to have been allowed no correspondence at all with his
friends. The governor of Hakodate, having a letter for him from his
only son, said not a word to him about it, but having sent for him to
convey a letter from Golownin on board the “Diana,” while walking up
and down the room, threw his son’s letter towards him, as if it had
been a piece of waste paper taken out of his sleeve accidentally with
the other letter, and then turned his back to give him time to pick it
up.[100]

Kahei’s abduction had thrown his family into great distress. A
celebrated priest, or spirit-medium, at Hakodate, to the question
whether he ever would return, had answered, “Kahei will return the
ensuing summer, with two of his companions; the remaining two have
perished in a foreign land.” This answer was communicated to Golownin,
who laughed at it; but when, on Kahei’s return, it appeared that two
of his Japanese attendants had actually died, the Japanese believers
were greatly edified, and highly indignant at Golownin’s persistence in
maintaining that there was more of luck than foresight in the prophecy.
Kahei’s wife—another probably than the young female with whom we are
already acquainted—in her grief made a vow to go on a pilgrimage
through the whole of Japan; and Kahei assured Captain Rikord that
scarcely had she returned from her pilgrimage, when she received his
letter from Kunashiri, announcing his return.

Kahei had a bosom friend, who, on learning his fate, divided his large
property among the poor, and took up his residence in the mountains
as a hermit. As appeared on various occasions, Kahei was a strict
disciplinarian, and very punctilious. He had a daughter, whom, owing
to some misconduct, he had discarded. She was dead to him, so he said;
and to Rikord, to whom he had told the story, and who had taken an
interest in the girl, he had insisted that a reconciliation would be
inconsistent with his honor. Yet, to show his hermit friend that in the
way of self-sacrifice he was not to be outdone, he made up his mind to
the great effort of calling his daughter into life, and forgiving her.
His friend would, he said, when this communication was made to him, at
once understand it.

[Illustration: SCENE IN A COMMON SCHOOL]

During Kahei’s absence his mercantile affairs had prospered, and
before Rikord’s departure he brought on board the “Diana,” with all
the evidence of paternal pride, his son, who seemed, indeed, to be a
promising youth. He was very liberal in his distribution of silk and
cotton wadded dresses to the crew, to all of whom he gave one or more,
to his favorites the best ones, taking especial care to remember the
cook. He then begged to be allowed to treat them. “Sailors, captain,”
so he said to Rikord, “are all alike, whether Russian or Japanese.
They are all fond of a glass; and there is no danger in the harbor of
Hakodate.” So the sailors had a night of it, being plentifully supplied
with sake and Japanese tobacco.

Though he refused all presents of value, as being indeed prohibited
by Japanese law, Kahei accepted with pleasure a Russian tea-set, as
it would enable him, in entertaining his friends, to call to mind his
Russian hosts; and he expressed much regret that the custom of his
country did not allow him to invite Rikord to his own house. Finally,
he brought a number of boats to help tow the “Diana” out of the harbor.

This is the only full-length portrait we possess of a Japanese
merchant; and, if it represents the class, the fraternity have reason
to be proud of their Japanese brethren. “The class of merchants in
Japan,” says Golownin, “is very extensive and rich, but not held
in honor. The merchants have not the right to bear arms;[101] but
though their profession is not respected, their wealth is; for this,
as in Europe, supplies the place of talents and dignity, and attains
privileges and honorable places. The Japanese told us that their
officers of state and men of rank behave themselves outwardly with
great haughtiness to the merchants, but in private are very familiar
with the rich ones, and are often under great obligations to them. We
had with us for some time a young officer, who was the son of a rich
merchant, and who, as the Japanese said, owed his rank not to his own
merit, but to his father’s gold. Thus, though the laws do not favor the
mercantile profession, yet wealth raises it; for even in Japan, where
the laws are so rigorously enforced, they are often weighed down by the
influence of gold.”




CHAPTER XLIV

 _Renewal of the Dutch Trade—Captain Gordon in the Bay of
 Yedo—Fisscher—Meylan—Siebold—British Mutineers—Voyage of the
 Morrison—Japanese Edict—The “Saramang” at Nagasaki—The “Mercator”
 in the Bay of Yedo—Commodore Biddle in the Bay of Yedo—Shipwrecked
 Americans—French Ships of War at Nagasaki—The “Preble” at
 Nagasaki—Surveying ship “Mariner” in the Bays of Yedo and Shimoda—New
 Notification through the Dutch—A.D. 1817-1850._


Great was the delight of Heer Doeff, when, in the year 1817, two
vessels arrived at last from Batavia, bringing news of its restoration
to the Dutch; also—what was hardly less welcome—a supply of butter,
wine, and other European creature comforts; together with goods for
renewing the trade, and a decoration of the order of the Lion for
Doeff, whose conduct in holding out against the English had been highly
approved in Holland.

On board these ships were several women, among others the wife of Herr
Blomhoff, appointed to succeed Doeff as director, who had with her an
infant child. This novelty greatly disturbed the Japanese. It was with
the utmost difficulty that permission was obtained for the wife of the
new director to land; her remaining was a thing not to be listened to,
and she was obliged to leave her husband and to return to Batavia in
the departing ships.[102]

Shortly after this renewal of the old Dutch intercourse, a new English
attempt was made at commerce with Japan. Captain Gordon of the British
navy, entered, in June, 1818, the bay of Yedo, in a little trading
brig, from Okhotsk, of sixty-five tons’ burden. He was immediately
visited by two officers, to whom he said that he had come merely to
obtain permission to return with a cargo of goods for sale. They
insisted upon unshipping his rudder, and required all his arms to be
given up. The vessel was then surrounded by a circle of some twenty
boats, and beyond by a circle of sixty larger ones, besides two or
three junks, mounting a number of guns. Two interpreters came on
board, one speaking Dutch, the other some Russian, and both a little
English. They inquired if the vessel belonged to the East India
Company, if the English were friends of the Dutch, and if Captain
Golownin was at Okhotsk. They asked after the king of Holland, the
king of France, and Bonaparte. They knew the names and uses of the
various nautical instruments, and said that the best were made at
London. In a subsequent visit they told Captain Gordon that permission
could not be granted for his trading to Japan, as by their laws all
foreign intercourse was interdicted, except at Nagasaki, and there only
allowed with the Dutch and Chinese, and he was requested to depart
the moment the wind was fair. The interpreters declined any presents,
being prohibited, they said, from accepting any. Captain Gordon was
much struck with the polite and affable conduct of the Japanese, both
towards him and towards each other. Everything that had been taken on
shore was carefully returned, and thirty boats were sent to tow the
vessel out of the bay. The shores were lined with spectators, and as
soon as the guard-boats had left, not less than two thousand visitors
came on board in succession, all eager to barter for trifles.[103]

In 1820, J. F. Van Overmeer Fisscher arrived at Nagasaki, as a member
of the factory. He resided there for seven years, and after his return
to Holland published, in 1833, a work in the Dutch language, entitled
“Contributions towards a Knowledge of the Japanese Empire,” embellished
with engravings from Japanese drawings, so superior to former specimens
as to give occasion for some suspicion of aid from the European
engraver.

In 1822, Fisscher accompanied Blomhoff in the quadrennial embassy
to Yedo, which, from its long intermission, appears to have excited
unusual attention. It had been proposed to make the embassy annual, as
formerly; but to this change the Japanese authorities would not assent.
Fisscher’s account of the journey does not differ materially from that
given by Kämpfer and Thunberg. The entrance into Yedo, notwithstanding
the absence of carriages, reminded him, from the noise and the throng
of people, of the commercial parts of London. The shops had signs, as
in Europe; the goods were exhibited from the doors and windows under
the charge of boys, who rivalled each other in calling by loud cries
the attention of purchasers. Long before entering Shinagawa, they found
themselves in the midst of a vast crowd, marching along broad streets,
paved at the sides, formed of houses, regularly built, among which
were many large buildings. From the suburb to their hotel, called
_Nagasakiya_, and in the immediate vicinity of the palace, it was two
hours’ march; and, as the palace was said to occupy a space half a
Japanese mile in diameter, Fisscher estimates the diameter of the whole
city at not less than five or six hours’ walk at an ordinary step.

After the audience and the official visits were over, the Dutch spent
twelve days in receiving visits. Among the crowds who obtained the
privilege of seeing them, were several princes or their secretaries,
and many savans, Doeff’s Globius among the rest. Several of these
visitors had more or less knowledge of the Dutch language, and great
eagerness was exhibited to obtain new scientific information. To a
party given to the Dutch by the master of the mint and the conductor
of the embassy, many of the Japanese guests came rigged out in Dutch
clothes; and as these had been collected through long intervals and
preserved as curiosities, they presented a very grotesque and antique
appearance.[104] Fisscher’s own party were laid under contribution in
the same way, their lady visitors unpacking and rummaging their trunks,
and putting them to the necessity of giving away some of the most
valuable articles. The greater part, however, were content with a few
words written on their fans.

Mr. G. F. Meylan, who first arrived in Japan shortly after Fisscher
left it, and who subsequently died there, as director, has also
contributed something to our knowledge of Japan, by a thin volume
published in 1830, like Fisscher’s, in the Dutch language, with the
title of “Japan; presented in Sketches of the Manners and Customs
of that Realm, especially of the Town of Nagasaki.” One of the most
original things in Meylan’s book is his apology for the custom of the
Dutch in taking female companions from the Nagasaki tea-houses. None of
the male Japanese servants are allowed to remain in Deshima over night.
“How, then,” plaintively asks Mr. Meylan, “could the Dutch residents
otherwise manage to procure any domestic comfort in the long nights of
winter,—their tea-water, for instance,—were it not for these females?”
He passes a high eulogy upon their strict fidelity and affectionate
activity; and indeed the connection appears to be regarded by them not
so much in the light in which we see it, as in that of a temporary
marriage. The female inmates of the Japanese tea-houses hold, indeed,
in the estimation of their own people, a very different position
from that which our manners would assign to them; since not only is
the custom of frequenting these houses, as places of relaxation and
amusement, general among the men, but sometimes, according to Fisscher,
they even take their wives along with them.

Of the personal charms of these wives, with their teeth blackened,
their eyebrows shaven, their faces white, Fisscher does not give a very
high idea. The concubines do not shave their eyebrows, but the custom
of blackening the teeth is so common as to be adopted by all females
above the age of eighteen. The immoderate use of the warm bath causes
them to look, at twenty-five, at least ten years older. Not content
with the natural burdens of child-bearing, they augment them by several
absurd customs, one of which is the wearing, during pregnancy, of a
tight girdle round the body.

The works of Fisscher and Meylan are chiefly valuable for the
confirmation they give of Kämpfer’s accounts, and as showing the
Japanese very little altered from what they were when he described
them. A visitant to Japan, and a writer of much higher pretensions, is
Dr. Philipp Franz von Siebold, who was sent out, in 1823, commissioned
by the Dutch government, to make all possible investigations, as well
into the language, literature, and institutions, as into the natural
history of the country. The Japanese interpreters understood Dutch so
well as to detect his foreign accent, but they were satisfied with the
explanation that he was a Dutch mountaineer. He availed himself, as
Kämpfer had done, of all means that offered to elude the restrictive
laws; and he found, like Thunberg and Titsingh, a certain number of the
natives very anxious to obtain information, and by no means unwilling
secretly to impart it.

In 1826, he accompanied Van Sturlen, the director, on the quadrennial
journey to Yedo, taking with him a young native physician, a native
artist, and several servants to assist his researches into natural
history. Following, as Fisscher had done, nearly or quite in Kämpfer’s
old route, he saw, in the passage across Kiūshiū, the same old
camphor-tree, as flourishing, apparently, as it had been a hundred and
thirty-five years before, but with a hollow in its trunk large enough
to hold fifteen men. He visited the same hot springs, and descended
some sixty feet into the coal mine, near Kokura, mentioned by Kämpfer.
He saw only one thin seam of coal, but was told of thicker ones
below,—an account which the coal drawn up seemed to confirm.

[Illustration: THE WEDDING CEREMONY]

At Yedo he met with many Japanese physicians, astronomers, and
others, of whose acquisitions he speaks with much respect.

Besides the other means, already pointed out, of measuring time, he
saw in use there Chinese clepsydras, or water-clocks; but the method
most relied upon for scientific purposes was a clock of which the
idea was derived from one introduced into China by the Jesuit Ricci,
and brought thence to Japan. This clock is worked by two balances,
one to act by day and the other by night. The arm of each balance is
notched, to accord with the variations in the length of the hours.
At the summer solstice the weights are hung respectively upon the
outermost notch of the day-balance, and upon the innermost notch of the
night-balance. At intervals of six days, four hours and twelve minutes,
both weights are moved; that of the day-balance a notch inward, that of
the night-balance a notch outward, until at the winter solstice their
original positions are reversed.

After Siebold’s return to Nagasaki, he continued diligently to follow
out his object, keeping up, through means of the interpreters, a
correspondence with his Yedo friends. In the course of five years he
had not only made large collections for the government of specimens
in natural history, but also, on his own account, of Japanese books
and other curiosities, besides acquiring a considerable knowledge of
the language. His collections in natural history had been shipped to
Batavia; he was preparing himself to follow, when an unlucky disclosure
took place. The imperial astronomer, notwithstanding the law to the
contrary, had secretly sent him a copy of a new map of Japan, lately
constructed on European principles. One of the draftsmen employed in
making it having quarrelled with the astronomer, informed against him,
in consequence of which the astronomer, his servants, the interpreters,
several of Siebold’s pupils, and other Japanese suspected of being
concerned in this affair, were arrested and subjected to a strict
examination. Siebold himself was called upon to give up the map; and,
when he hesitated about it, underwent a domiciliary visit, followed by
an order to consider himself under arrest, and prohibition to leave
Japan until the investigation was terminated. Finding thus not only
the fruits of his own labor, but the lives of his Japanese friends
in danger, he made a full confession as to the map, endeavoring thus
to remove suspicions and to preserve some other documents in his
possession, of which the Japanese yet had no knowledge, and which might
have compromised other persons not yet suspected. Studiously concealing
the connection of the Dutch government with his mission, he thought
it best to represent himself as simply a private inquirer, whose
researches into natural history and the physical sciences might be no
less useful to the Japanese than they were interesting to himself. Of
the particulars of this affair no account has ever been published. It
is said that some of his Japanese friends found it necessary to cut
themselves open, but Siebold himself was speedily released, with his
entire collections, which he brought with him to Holland, and by means
of which he converted his residence at Leyden into a very curious
Japanese museum.

The fruits of his researches, so far as zoölogy is concerned, and of
those of Dr. Burger, left behind as his successor, have been published
by the labors of some distinguished naturalists, and under the
patronage of the king of Holland, in a very splendid and expensive
work, called “Fauna Japonica,” with colored plates of most of the
animals described, and in the preparation of which the native works on
the subject were largely consulted. This work includes three lizards,
two tortoises, six snakes, eleven of the frog family, three hundred
and fifty-nine fishes (Siebold describes the Japanese as a nation of
fish-eaters), besides several whales, and two hundred and two birds.
The principal quadrupeds, natives of Japan, and described in it,
are a small deer, an antelope, in the most southern parts an ape, a
wolf, a bear, and in Yezo another more ferocious species, like the
Rocky Mountain bear, a wild hog, two foxes, and a number of smaller
animals. There is no animal of the cat kind, except the domestic cat.
The dogs used for hunting appear to be indigenous. There are pet
house-dogs, derived from China, and troops of street-dogs—belonging to
no individual, but denizens of particular streets—of a mongrel breed
between the two.

The “Flora Japonica,” prepared by Zaccarini, from Siebold’s collection
containing descriptions and drawings of one hundred and twenty-four
remarkable plants, was interrupted by the death of that botanist, as
was also another, less costly, but fuller enumeration of Japanese
plants, arranged in natural families. The latter work, so far as
completed, contains four hundred and seventy-eight genera, and eight
hundred and forty-seven species. Siebold states that, of five hundred
plants most remarkable for ornament or utility, at least half are of
foreign origin, chiefly from China.

Siebold’s observations, during his residence in Japan, upon other
subjects than natural history, have been principally embraced in a
publication in numbers, originally in German, but a French translation
of parts of which has appeared, entitled “Nippon, or Archives for the
Description of Japan.” This work, projected like most of Siebold’s
publications, on an extensive scale, contains many translations from
Japanese historical works, and exhibits a great deal of erudition;
at the same time it is diffuse, confused, incoherent, introducing a
great deal of matter with only a remote bearing on the subject; and,
whatever light it may throw upon some particular points, not, on the
whole, adding a great deal to the knowledge we previously had of Japan,
so far, at least, as the general reader would be likely to take an
interest in it.[105]

The same year in which Siebold was released, a party of English
convicts, on their way to Australia in the brig “Cyprus,” mutinied and
got possession of the vessel. After cruising about for five months,
being in great distress for wood and water, they anchored on the coast
of Japan; but they were fired at from the shore, and obliged to depart
without accomplishing their object.

Not long after this occurrence, three Japanese, the only survivors of
the crew of a junk, driven by storms across the Pacific, landed on
Queen Charlotte’s Island, on the northwest coast of America. They were
seized by the natives, but were redeemed by an agent of the English
Fur Company, at the mouth of Columbia River, and sent to England. From
England they were carried to Macao, where they were placed in the
family of Mr. Gutzlaff, the missionary. Some time after, four other
Japanese, who had been wrecked on the Philippines, were brought to
Macao.

The return of these men to their homes seemed a good opportunity for
opening a communication with Japan, as well for mercantile as for
missionary purposes, and an American mercantile house at Macao fitted
out the brig “Morrison” for that purpose, in which sailed one of the
partners, Dr. Parker, a missionary physician, and Mr. S. W. Williams,
one of the editors of the “Chinese Repository,” and afterwards Chinese
interpreter to Commodore Perry’s squadron. At Lew Chew [Riūkiū], where
the vessel touched, Mr. Gutzlaff also came on board.

On the 27th of July, 1837, the chain of islands was made leading up to
the bay of Yedo, up which the “Morrison” proceeded some thirty miles,
to Uraga, the west coast of the bay rising hill above hill, and the
view terminating in the lofty peak of Fuji. Near Uraga, many of the
hills were cultivated in terraces, but the general aspect of the shores
was bleak and barren. Just above, the passage was narrowed by two
points of land projecting from opposite directions.

Having anchored about three quarters of a mile from the shore, the ship
was soon visited by a number of boats. Their crews, some two hundred in
number, and evidently of the lower class, hardly seemed to understand
the Chinese writing in which provisions, water, and a government
officer to communicate with, were asked for. They seemed, however,
to invite a landing; but during the night cannon were planted on the
nearest eminence, and, though the firing was unskilful, the “Morrison”
was obliged to weigh. She was pursued by three gun-boats, each with
thirty or forty men, which bore down upon her, firing swivels; but
when she lay to, to wait for them, they retired. A piece of canvas, on
which was painted, in Chinese, that a foreign ship desired to return
some shipwrecked natives, and to obtain some provisions and water, was
thrown overboard; but, though it was picked up, no notice was taken
of it. The Japanese on board, who had recognized the shores of their
country with delight, were much mortified at the result, which they
ascribed in part to their not having been allowed to communicate with
their countrymen.

For the purpose of making a second experiment, on the 20th of August
the “Morrison” entered the bay of Kagoshima, in the principality of
Satsuma. The shores, rising gradually from the water, were under
high cultivation. A boat from the ship boarded a Japanese fishing
vessel, and proceeded to a little village, where they found the people
in great commotion. The “Morrison” followed, and when opposite the
village, was visited by a richly dressed officer, with a number of
almost naked attendants. He stated that, supposing the ship to be a
pirate, preparations had been made to fire on her; but, satisfied by
the representations of the Japanese on board of the true state of the
case, he received, with much apparent interest, the despatches prepared
for the prince of Satsuma and the emperor, which he promised to deliver
to a superior officer. He left a pilot on board; a supply of water was
sent, and the ship was visited by many boat-loads of people, superior
in appearance to those seen in the bay of Yedo; but they brought
nothing to sell.

The despatches were soon brought back by several officers, the superior
officer, it was stated, declining to receive them. They added that the
depositions of the Japanese passengers, who had landed for the purpose
of giving them, had been forwarded to Kagoshima, and that a superior
officer might be expected from that city. Provisions were promised,
and that the vessel should be towed higher up the bay; early in the
morning of the twelfth, the crew of a fishing-boat communicated to the
Japanese on board a rumor that the ship was to be expelled. Warlike
preparations were soon seen on shore, in strips of blue and white
canvas stretched from tree to tree. The Japanese on board stated, with
rueful faces, that these preparations portended war; nor, according to
their description, were these cloth batteries so contemptible as they
might seem, as four or five pieces of heavy canvas, loosely stretched,
one behind another, at short intervals, would weaken the force of,
indeed almost stop, a cannon ball.

Officers on horseback, and several hundred soldiers, soon made their
appearance, and a fire of musketry and artillery was commenced. The
anchor was weighed, and the sails set, but there was no wind. For
eighteen hours the ship was exposed, without any means of offering
resistance, to two fires from opposite sides of the bay, which was
from three to five miles broad, till at last she was with difficulty
conducted clear of the shoals and past the forts.

All hope of friendly intercourse, or of returning the men, was now
abandoned. The poor fellows suffered severely at this unexpected
extinction of their prospect of revisiting their families. They
expressed great indignation at the conduct of their countrymen, and two
of them shaved their heads entirely in token, as it was understood,
of having renounced their native soil. As it was not deemed expedient
to go to Nagasaki, where the Japanese on board expressed their
determination not to land, the “Morrison” returned to Macao.[106]

In 1843, probably in consequence of this visit of the “Morrison,” the
Japanese authorities promulgated an edict, of which the following is a
translation, as given by the Dutch at Deshima, who were requested to
communicate to the other European nations,—the first attempt ever made
to employ their agency for that purpose.

[Illustration: A BUDDHIST FUNERAL]

  “Shipwrecked persons of the Japanese nation must not be brought
 back to their country, except on board of Dutch or Chinese ships,
 for, in case these shipwrecked persons shall be brought back in the
 ships of other nations, they will not be received. Considering the
 express prohibition, even to Japanese subjects, to explore or make
 examinations of the coasts or islands of the empire, this prohibition,
 for greater reason, is extended to foreigners.”

The British opium war in China, of the progress of which the Japanese
were well informed, if it increased the desire of the English to gain
access to Japan, did not, by any means, diminish the Japanese dread of
foreigners.[107]

In 1845, the British surveying frigate “Saramang” entered the harbor of
Nagasaki. As she approached she was surrounded by numerous guard-boats,
from one of which a letter was handed, in Dutch and French, directing
her to anchor off the entrance, till visited by the authorities. The
Japanese officers who came on board stated that they had been apprised
of this intended visit by the Dutch, and that they were acquainted with
the recent visit of the “Saramang” to the Lew Chew and other islands,
and of her operations there.

With great difficulty permission was obtained to land, in order
to make some astronomical observations, but the officers earnestly
begged that this might not be repeated till they could consult their
superiors; nor were they willing that the vessel should leave till
such consultation had taken place. They asked, for this purpose, a
stay of two days. The captain offered to wait four days, if they would
allow his observations to be continued; but this they declined, urging
as a reason their own danger of punishment. The vessel was freely
supplied with such provisions as she needed, and the British officers
were strongly impressed with the demeanor of the Japanese, as at once
dignified and respectful.

That same year, the American whaleship “Mercator,” Captain Cooper,
while cruising among the northern islands of the Japanese group, fell
in with a sinking junk, from which she took eleven Japanese sailors,
and as many more from a rock to which they had escaped. Captain Cooper
proceeded with these rescued men to the bay of Yedo, and on anchoring
there was surrounded by near four hundred armed boats, which took the
ship in tow, took all the arms out of her, and carried her in front of
a neighboring town, probably Odawara. Here she was guarded for three
days, being all the while an object of curiosity to great crowds.
Orders presently came from Yedo, in these words:

 “I am informed, by the mouths of some shipwrecked persons of our
 country, that they have been brought home by your ship, and that they
 have been well treated. But, according to our laws, they must not be
 brought home except by the Chinese or Dutch. Nevertheless, in the
 present case, we shall make an exception, because the return of these
 men by you must be attributed to your ignorance of these laws. In
 future, Japanese subjects will not be received in like circumstances,
 and will have to be treated rigorously when returned. You are hereby
 advised of this, and that you must make it known to others.

 “As, in consequence of your long voyage, provisions, and wood and
 water are wanting on board your ship, we have regard to your request,
 and whatever you want will be given to you.

 “As soon as possible after the reception of this order, the ship must
 depart and return directly to her own country.”

Immediately upon the receipt of this order, the ship was abundantly
supplied with provisions, her arms were returned, and she was towed
out of the bay by a file of boats more than a mile long. It would seem
that since the visit of the “Morrison,” a fleet of guard-boats had been
provided to take the bay of Yedo in charge.

Commodore Biddle, sent soon after to the China Seas, with a
considerable American naval force, was instructed, among other things,
to ascertain if the ports of Japan were accessible. With this object in
view, with the “Columbus” ship of the line, and “Vincennes” frigate,
he anchored (July 20, 1848) in the bay of Yedo. Before the ships
reached their anchorage, an officer with a Dutch interpreter came on
board to inquire their object. He was told that the vessels came as
friends to ascertain whether Japan had, like China, opened her ports to
foreign trade; and, if she had, to negotiate a treaty of commerce. The
officer requested that this statement should be reduced to writing, for
transmission to the higher authorities. He also stated that all needed
supplies would be furnished, but refused permission to land, and even
wished to stop the passing of boats between the two vessels; but as the
commodore would not agree to this, he did not persist in it. The vessel
was soon surrounded by a multitude of boats, and as many Japanese as
wished were allowed to come on board, both as a proof of friendship and
to let them see the strength of the ships.

Another officer, apparently of higher rank, came on board the following
morning. He stated that foreign ships, on arriving in Japan, were
required to give up their arms; but when told that only trading
vessels could be expected to do that, he appeared to be satisfied. The
emperor’s reply might be expected, he said, in five or six days. He was
offered copies in Chinese of the late English, French, and American
treaties with China, but declined to receive them, as did all the other
Japanese officers to whom they were offered. To explain the concourse
of guard-boats about the ship, he pretended that they were only waiting
in readiness to tow the ships, if needed. These boats followed the
ships’ boats when sent at some distance for sounding, but did not offer
to molest them, nor did the crews of the ships’ boats make any attempt
to land.

The Japanese, who had undertaken to water the ships, sent off the first
day less than two hundred gallons, and the next day not so much. As
this was less than the daily consumption, the commodore stated that if
they went on so, he should send his own boats. This was by no means
acceptable, and in the next two days they furnished twenty-one thousand
gallons.

On the 28th, an officer with a suite of eight persons came on
board with the emperor’s letter, which, as translated by the Dutch
interpreter, read thus:

 “According to the Japanese laws, the Japanese may not trade except
 with the Dutch and Chinese. It will not be allowed that America make
 a treaty with Japan or trade with her, as the same is not allowed with
 any other nation. Concerning strange lands all things are fixed at
 Nagasaki, but not here in the bay; therefore, you must depart as quick
 as possible, and not come any more to Japan.”

The Japanese original, as translated at Canton, first into Chinese and
from Chinese into English, runs as follows:

 “The object of this communication is to explain the reasons why we
 refuse to trade with foreigners who come to this country across the
 ocean for that purpose.

 “This has been the habit of our nation from time immemorial. In all
 cases of a similar kind that have occurred we have positively refused
 to trade. Foreigners have come to us from various quarters, but have
 always been received in the same way. In taking this course with
 regard to you, we only pursue our accustomed policy. We can make no
 distinction between different foreign nations—we treat them all alike,
 and you as Americans must receive the same answer with the rest. It
 will be of no use to renew the attempt, as all applications of the
 kind, however numerous they may be, will be steadily rejected.

 “We are aware that our customs are in this respect different from
 those of some other countries, but every nation has a right to manage
 its affairs in its own way.

 “The trade carried on with the Dutch at Nagasaki is not to be regarded
 as furnishing a precedent for trade with other foreign nations. The
 place is one of few inhabitants and very little business, and the
 whole affair is of no importance.

 “In conclusion, we have to say that the emperor positively refuses the
 permission you desire. He earnestly advises you to depart immediately,
 and to consult your own safety in not appearing again upon our coast.”

This paper, which had neither address, signature, nor date, was
enclosed in an open envelope, on which was written, “Explanatory
Edict.” With respect to the delivery of it, the following circumstance
occurred, which will best be stated in the words of the commodore’s
despatch:

“I must now communicate an occurrence of an unpleasant character. On
the morning that the officer came down in the junk with the emperor’s
letter, I was requested to go on board the junk to receive it. I
refused, and informed the interpreter that the officer must deliver on
board this ship any letter that had been entrusted him for me. To this
the officer assented; but added, that my letter having been delivered
on board the American ship, he thought the emperor’s letter should be
delivered on board the Japanese vessel. As the Japanese officer, though
attaching importance to his own proposal, had withdrawn it as soon as
I objected to it, I concluded that it might be well for me to gratify
him, and I informed the interpreter that I would go on board the junk,
and there receive the letter. The interpreter then went on board the
junk, and in an hour afterwards I went alongside in the ship’s boat,
in my uniform. At the moment that I was stepping on board, a Japanese
on the deck of the junk gave me a blow or push, which threw me back
into the boat. I immediately called to the interpreter to have the man
seized, and then returned to the ship.” The interpreter and a number of
Japanese followed, who expressed great concern at what had happened,
and who succeeded in convincing the commodore that his intention of
coming on board had not been understood. They offered to inflict any
punishment he chose on the offender; but as to that matter he referred
them to the laws of Japan; and being satisfied that it was an
individual act, without authority from the officers, he concluded to
be satisfied.[108] What interpretation was put upon his conduct by the
Japanese will presently appear.

[Illustration: A SHINTŌ FUNERAL]

At the very moment that these ships were thus unceremoniously sent
away, eight American sailors were imprisoned in Japan, though possibly
the fact was not then known at Yedo. They had escaped from the wreck of
the whaleship “Lawrence,” to one of the Japanese Kuriles, where they
had landed early in June. After an imprisonment of several months,
they were taken to Matsumae, and finally to Nagasaki. One of them, in
an attempt to escape, was killed. At last, after seventeen months’
confinement, they were given up to the Dutch at Deshima, and sent to
Batavia in the ship of 1847. According to an account signed by the mate
and published in the Serampore “Free Press,” their usage had been very
hard.

On the 28th of July, the day preceding the departure of the two
American ships from the bay of Yedo, two French ships of war, the
frigate “Cleopatra,” commanded by Admiral Cecille, and a corvette, on a
surveying expedition, entered the harbor of Nagasaki, for the purpose,
as the admiral stated, of letting the Japanese know that the French,
too, had great ships of war; but being surrounded by boats and refused
all intercourse with the shore, they departed within twenty-four hours.
In consequence of these visits the Dutch at length communicated to the
French and American governments copies of the edict of 1843, concerning
the return of shipwrecked Japanese, and surveys of the Japanese coast,
already given.

In September, 1848, fifteen foreign seamen arrived at Nagasaki,
forwarded from Matsumae in a Japanese junk, from which they were
carried in close kago to a temple prepared for their residence, and
around which a high palisade was erected, no communication with them
being allowed. Indeed, it was not without a good deal of difficulty
that the director of the Dutch factory obtained leave to send them
some articles of food and clothing. As none of the sailors understood
Dutch, the Japanese officers who had them in charge found it difficult
to communicate with them,—to aid in which the Dutch director was
finally called in. Eight of the men, according to their own account,
were Americans, all quite young, and seven of them Sandwich-Islanders.
They stated themselves to have escaped from the wreck of the American
whaler, “Ladoga,” which, according to their account, had struck a shoal
in the Sea of Japan, and gone to pieces. The director wished to send
them to Batavia in the annual Dutch vessel, then about to sail, but for
this a reference to Yedo was necessary, which would take forty days,
much beyond the time fixed by the Japanese rule for the departure of
the ship.

These facts having been communicated, under date of January 27,
1849, by the Dutch consul at Canton to the American commissioner
there, Captain Geisenger, in command on that station, despatched the
sloop-of-war “Preble,” Commander Glyn, to Nagasaki, to bring away these
sailors.

Glyn touched at Lew Chew, where he learned from the Rev. B. J.
Bettelheim,[109] a missionary resident there, that very exaggerated
reports had reached these islands of chastisement inflicted upon an
American officer who had visited Yedo in a “big” ship. The missionary
seemed even to think that these reports were not without their
influence upon the authorities of Lew Chew, as the cause of a “want
of accommodation” exhibited in their conduct towards the “Preble,”—a
piece of information which had its influence in leading Captain Glyn
to assume a very decided tone in his subsequent intercourse with the
authorities of Nagasaki.

The “Preble” made the land off Nagasaki on the 17th of April. Japanese
boats, which soon came alongside, threw on board a bamboo, in the split
of which were papers containing the customary notification to foreign
vessels, as to their anchorage, and the conduct they were to observe,
and certain questions which they were to answer. These papers (in
English, with some Dutch variations) were verbatim as follows:

 1. _Warning to respective commanders, their officers and crew of the
 vessels approaching the coast of Japan, or anchoring near the coast
 in the bays of the empire._—During the time foreign vessels are on
 the coast of Japan or near, as well as in the bay of Nagasaki, it is
 expected and likewise ordered, that every one of the _schip’s_ company
 will behave properly towards and accost _civillen_ the Japanese
 subjects in general. No one may leave the _vessle_, or use her boats
 for cruising or landing on the islands or on the main coast, and ought
 to remain on board until further advice from the Japanese government
 has been received. It is likewise forbidden to fire guns, or use other
 fire-arms on board the _vessle_, as well as in their boats. Very
 disagreeable consequences might result in case the aforesaid _schould_
 not be strictly observed. (Signed.) The Governor of Nagasaki.

 2. _To the commanders of vessels approaching this empire under Dutch
 or other colors._—By express orders of the governor of Nagasaki, you
 are requested, as soon as you have arrived near the northern Cavallos,
 to anchor there at a safe place, and to remain until you will have
 received further advice. Very disagreeable consequences might result
 in case this order should not be strictly observed. Deshima. (Signed.)
 The Reporters attached to the Superintendent’s office. (Seal.)
 Translated by the Superintendent of the Netherlands’ trade in Japan.
 (Qu. chief interpreter?)

 3. (This is addressed like No. 2, and contains the same orders about
 anchorage. It then proceeds as follows:) “Please to answer, as
 distinctly and as soon as possible, the following questions: What is
 the name of your vessel? What her tonnage? What is the number of her
 crew? Where do you come from? What is the date of your departure? Have
 you any wrecked Japanese on board? Have you anything to ask for, as
 water, firewood, etc. etc.? Are any more vessels in company with you
 bound for this empire? By order the governor of Nagasaki. Translated
 by the Superintendent of the Netherlands’ trade in Japan. Deshima.
                         UPPER REPORTER. (Seal.)[110]
                         UNDER REPORTER. (Seal.)

The ship was soon after boarded by a Japanese interpreter with seven
men, who gave directions in English as to her anchorage; but, as the
captain persisted in selecting his own ground, the officer yielded. To
another officer, who came on board to learn what he wanted, he stated
his object, which led to many inquiries. The vessel was surrounded
by guard-boats, and the usual offer was made of supplies, which were
refused unless payment would be accepted. To an officer who came on
board the next day, Captain Glyn complained of these guard-boats; and
he gave him also a letter to the governor of Nagasaki, stating his
object. The same officer having returned on the 22d, but only with
promises of a speedy answer, Captain Glyn remonstrated with warmth.
Finally, on the 26th, through the intervention of the Dutch director,
who, being sick himself, sent one of his subordinates on board, the
sailors were delivered up without waiting to send to Yedo, as had been
proposed. The day before, a curious memorandum in Japanese Dutch, a
sort of journal or history of the prisoners since their capture, was
handed to the captain, who was very hard-pressed to say whether he
would sail as soon as he received them. Another memorandum in Dutch was
also handed to him, to the effect that, as all shipwrecked mariners
were sent home by the Chinese or Dutch, this special sending for them
was not to be allowed.

It appears, from the statements of the men, that they were, in fact,
deserters, having left the Ladoga near the Straits of Sangar. At a
village on the coast of Yezo, where they landed, they were supplied
with rice and firewood, but while they stayed were guarded by soldiers,
and surrounded by a cloth screen, as if to keep them from seeing the
country. Landing two days after at another village, they were detained
as prisoners, and were confined in a house guarded by soldiers; but
for some time were amused by promises that they should be released and
furnished with a boat. Disappointed in this expectation, two of them
escaped, but were speedily recaptured. A quarrel taking place between
them, one of them was shut up in a cage, and two others, having made
a second escape, after being retaken were shut up with him. A new
quarrel happening in the cage, one of the prisoners was taken out and
severely whipped. Two months after their capture, the whole number
were put in a junk, the three close prisoners in one cage, the twelve
others in another, and forwarded to Nagasaki. They were lodged at
first in a palisaded and guarded house, and were subjected to several
interrogations, being flattered with hopes of being sent home in
the Dutch vessel then in the harbor. In order to get on board her,
McCoy (who described himself as twenty-three years old, and born in
Philadelphia, and who appears to have been the most intelligent of the
party) made a third escape. Japanese jails, he observed, might do well
enough for Japanese, but could not hold Americans. Being retaken, he
was tied,—much as described in Golownin’s narrative,—put into a sort of
stocks, and repeatedly examined under suspicion of being a spy. Thence
he was taken to the common prison and confined by himself for three
weeks; but, on threatening to starve himself, and refusing to eat for
three days, he was restored to his companions, it would seem, through
the intercession of the Dutch director, who endeavored to persuade the
men to wait patiently, and not to quarrel among themselves.

After a month’s longer detention, a new escape was planned, but only
McCoy and two others succeeded in getting out. Being retaken they
were tied, put in the stocks, and finally all were sent to the common
prison, where they had very hard usage. It was stated, and no doubt
truly enough, in the Dutch memorandum, respecting their treatment,
handed in by the Japanese, that they gave so much trouble that the
authorities hardly knew what to do with them. One of the Americans
died, and one of the Sandwich-Islanders hung himself. McCoy, who had
learned considerable Japanese, was secretly informed of the arrival
of the “Preble” by one of the guards with whom he had established an
intimacy.

At the same time with these men another seaman from an American whaler
was delivered up, who had landed a month or two later on some still
more northerly Japanese island. As this man, named McDonald, and who
described himself as twenty-four years old, and born at Astoria, in
Oregon, had made no attempt at escaping, he had no occasion to complain
of severity. In fact, he lived in clover, the Japanese having put him
to use as a teacher of English. The very interpreter who boarded the
“Preble” had been one of his scholars. All these men stated that they
had been required to trample on the crucifix as a proof that they were
not Portuguese, that reason being suggested to them when they showed
some reluctance to do it.

McCoy mentioned, and others confirmed it, that when he threatened the
Japanese guards with vengeance from some American ship of war, they
told him that they had no fears of that, as the year before, at the
city of Yedo, a common soldier had knocked down an American commander,
and no notice had been taken of it. McCoy and the others strenuously
denied having ever heard this story (evidently referring to the
occurrence described in a preceding page) before it was thus mentioned
to them by the Japanese.

McDonald, before his release, was requested by the Japanese to describe
the relative rank of the commander of the “Preble,” by counting down in
the order of succession from the highest chief in the United States.
Like a true republican, he began with the people; but the Japanese,
he says, could make nothing of that. He then enumerated the grades
of president, secretary of the navy, commodore, post captain, and
commander, which latter rank, being that of the officer in question,
seemed so elevated as rather to excite the surprise of his auditors.

Five weeks after the departure of the “Preble,” on the 29th of May,
Commander Matheson, in the British surveying ship “Mariner,” anchored
in the bay of Yedo, off the town of Uraga, and three miles higher up,
according to his statement, than any other vessel had been allowed
to proceed. As he entered the bay, he was met by ten boats. A paper
was handed up, in Dutch and French, requesting him not to anchor, nor
cruise in the bay; but when the Japanese found he was determined to
proceed, they offered to tow him. During the night he was watched by
boats and from the shore. Having a Japanese interpreter on board, he
communicated the object of his visit, and sent his card on shore to
the governor of the town, with a note in Chinese, proposing to wait
upon him; to which the governor replied that it was contrary to the law
for foreigners to land, and that he should lose his life if he allowed
Captain Matheson to come on shore, or to proceed any higher up the bay.

[Illustration: SCENES IN JAPANESE CEMETERIES]

The survey of the anchorage having been completed, Matheson
proceeded, on the 31st, to the bay of Shimoda, on the other side of
the promontory of Izu, where he spent five days in surveying, and was
detained two days longer by the weather. After the second day, he was
visited by an interpreter, who understood Dutch, and by two officers
from Uraga, apparently spies on each other, to watch his proceedings;
and finally an officer of rank, from a town thirteen miles off, came
on board. There were three fishing villages at the anchorage, and he
landed for a short time, but the Japanese officers followed, begging
and entreating him to go on board again. The ship was supplied with
plenty of fish, and boats were furnished to tow her out.

In 1850, the Japanese sent to Batavia, in the annual Dutch ship,
three American sailors who had been left in 1848 on one of the Kurile
Islands, also thirty-one other sailors belonging to the English
whaling-ship Edmund, of Robertstown, wrecked on the coast of Yezo. At
the same time, probably in consequence of the numerous recent visits
to their coasts, the Dutch were requested to give notice to other
nations, that although it had been determined, in 1842, to furnish with
necessary supplies such foreign vessels as arrived on the coast in
distress, this was not to be understood as indicating the least change
as to the policy of the rigorous exclusion of foreigners.[111]




CHAPTER XLV

 _Foreign Relations—New Shōgun—Dutch Trade—Chinese Trade—American
 Embassy—Its Object—Letter to the Emperor—Perry’s first visit
 to the Bay of Yedo—Death of the Shōgun—Perry’s second visit to
 the Bay of Yedo—Negotiation of a Treaty—The Treaty as agreed
 to—Shimoda—Hakodate—Additional Regulations—Japanese Currency—Burrow’s
 visit to the Bay of Yedo—Third visit of the American Steamers—Russian
 and English Negotiations—Exchange of Ratifications—Earthquake._


We have seen in the last chapter how the whale fishery, on the one
hand, and the opening of China to foreign trade, on the other, had
more and more drawn attention to Japan; in the conduct of whose
functionaries, however, no indication appeared of any disposition to
abandon their ancient exclusive policy. It has even been asserted[112]
that a new Shōgun [Iyeyoshi], who had succeeded in 1837 (after a
fifty years’ reign on the part of his predecessor), had imposed new
restrictions on foreign products, and, by special encouragement to
home productions of similar kinds, had endeavored to supersede the
necessity of receiving anything from abroad. It is certain that the
Dutch trade rather diminished than increased. The amount of that trade,
from 1825 to 1833, inclusive, is stated by Jancigny, from official
returns, or those reputed to be such, at 289,150 florins ($115,620)
for importations, and 702,675 florins ($281,078) for exportations.
In 1846, the importations reached only 231,117 fr. ($92,446), and
the exportations 552,319 fr. ($220,927); and those of the preceding
year had been about the same. The private trade, and the attempts at
smuggling connected with it, were very narrowly watched. Within the
preceding ten years, one interpreter had been executed, and another
had been driven to cut himself open, in consequence of complicity in
smuggling. The private trade had been farmed out, for the benefit of
those interested in it, at 30,000 fl. ($12,000) annually,—the amount at
which Kämpfer had reckoned the profits from that source of the director
alone. Among the Dutch imports upon government account, woollens,
silks, velvets, cotton goods, gold, silver, tin, lead, mercury, and a
few other articles are mentioned. Sugar, formerly a leading article, no
longer appears on the list. The returns continued to be exclusively in
camphor and copper, the latter furnished by the Japanese government at
the old rates, much below the current price, by which advantage alone
was the Dutch trade sustained. Among the private importations were
spices, chemicals, and a great variety of Paris trinkets, for which
various Japanese manufactures and products were taken in exchange.

The Chinese trade had declined not less than that of the Dutch. The
ten junks a year, to which it was now restricted, all came from Sha-po
(not far from Chusan), half of them in January and the other half
in August—their cargoes, which include a great variety of articles,
being partly furnished by private merchants who come over in them, but
chiefly by a commercial company at Sha-po, for whom the captains of the
junks act as supercargoes. Except as to some trifling articles, this
trade seems, like that of the Dutch, to be pretty much in the hands of
the government, who, or some privileged company under them, purchase
the imports and furnish a return cargo to each junk, two fifths in
copper and the remainder in other articles. The Chinese, however, still
continued to be allowed much more liberty than the Dutch of personal
intercourse with the inhabitants of Nagasaki.

The settlement of California, the new trade opened thence with China,
and the idea of steam communication across the Pacific, for which the
coal of Japan might be needed, combined with the extension of the
whale fishery in the Northern Japanese seas to increase the desire
in America for access to the ports of Japan. Shortly after the visit
of the “Preble,” the American government resolved to send an envoy
thither, backed by such a naval force as would ensure him a respectful
hearing—the cases of Biddle and Glyn seeming to prove that the
humoring policy could not be relied upon and that the only way to deal
successfully with the Japanese was to show a resolution not to take no
for an answer.

Accordingly, Mr. Webster, as Secretary of State, prepared a letter from
the President to the Emperor of Japan; also a letter of instructions to
the American naval commander in the China seas, to whom it was resolved
to entrust the duty of envoy, and whose force was to be strengthened
by additional ships. The sailing, however, of these ships was delayed
till after Mr. Webster’s death; and in the mean time Commodore Matthew
C. Perry was selected as the head of the expedition. A new letter,[113]
dated November 5, 1852, addressed from the State Department to the
Secretary of the Navy, thus defined its objects:

“1. To effect some permanent arrangement for the protection of American
seamen and property wrecked on these islands, or driven into their
ports by stress of weather.

“2. The permission to American vessels to enter one or more of their
ports, in order to obtain supplies of provisions, water, fuel, &c.; or,
in case of disasters, to refit so as to enable them to prosecute their
voyage. It is very desirable to have permission to establish a dépôt
for coal, if not on one of the principal islands, at least on some
small, uninhabited one, of which it is said there are several in their
vicinity.

“3. The permission to our vessels to enter one or more of their ports
for the purpose of disposing of their cargoes by sale or barter.”

The mission was to be of a pacific character, as the President had no
power to declare war; yet the show of force was evidently relied upon
as more likely than anything else to weigh with the Japanese. The Dutch
government, it was stated, had instructed their agents at Deshima to do
all they could to promote the success of the expedition. Indeed, if we
may believe Jancigny,[114] who speaks from information obtained during
a residence at Batavia in 1844-45, the King of Holland had, as long ago
as that time, addressed a letter to the Emperor of Japan, urging him to
abandon the policy of exclusion. The letter of instructions disavowed
any wish to obtain exclusive privileges; but, as a matter of policy,
nothing was to be said about other nations.

A new letter to the Emperor of Japan was also prepared in the following
terms:


 “MILLARD FILLMORE, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, TO HIS
                IMPERIAL MAJESTY, THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN.

  “GREAT AND GOOD FRIEND:

 “I send you this public letter by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, an
 officer of the highest rank in the navy of the United States, and
 commander of the squadron now visiting your imperial majesty’s
 dominions.

 “I have directed Commodore Perry to assure your imperial majesty that
 I entertain the kindest feelings towards your majesty’s person and
 government, and that I have no other object in sending him to Japan
 but to propose to your imperial majesty that the United States and
 Japan should live in friendship and have commercial intercourse with
 each other.

 “The constitution and laws of the United States forbid all
 interference with the religious or political concerns of other
 nations. I have particularly charged Commodore Perry to abstain from
 every act which could possibly disturb the tranquillity of your
 imperial majesty’s dominions.

 “The United States of America reach from ocean to ocean, and our
 Territory of Oregon and State of California lie directly opposite to
 the dominions of your imperial majesty. Our steamships can go from
 California to Japan in eighteen days.

 “Our great state of California produces about sixty millions of
 dollars in gold every year, besides silver, quicksilver, precious
 stones, and many other valuable articles. Japan is also a rich and
 fertile country, and produces many very valuable articles. Your
 imperial majesty’s subjects are skilled in many of the arts. I am
 desirous that our two countries should trade with each other, for the
 benefit both of Japan and the United States.

 “We know that the ancient laws of your imperial majesty’s government
 do not allow of foreign trade except with the Chinese and the Dutch;
 but, as the state of the world changes, and new governments are
 formed, it seems to be wise, from time to time, to make new laws.
 There was a time when the ancient laws of your imperial majesty’s
 government were first made.

 “About the same time America, which is sometimes called the New World,
 was first discovered and settled by the Europeans. For a long time
 there were but a few people, and they were poor. They have now become
 quite numerous; their commerce is very extensive; and they think that
 if your imperial majesty were so far to change the ancient laws as to
 allow a free trade between the two countries, it would be extremely
 beneficial to both.

 “If your imperial majesty is not satisfied that it would be safe
 altogether to abrogate the ancient laws, which forbid foreign trade,
 they might be suspended for five or ten years, so as to try the
 experiment. If it does not prove as beneficial as was hoped, the
 ancient laws can be restored. The United States often limit their
 treaties with foreign states to a few years, and then renew them or
 not, as they please.

 “I have directed Commodore Perry to mention another thing to your
 imperial majesty. Many of our ships pass every year from California to
 China; and great numbers of our people pursue the whale fishery near
 the shores of Japan. It sometimes happens, in stormy weather, that
 one of our ships is wrecked on your imperial majesty’s shores. In all
 such cases we ask, and expect, that our unfortunate people should be
 treated with kindness, and that their property should be protected,
 till we can send a vessel and bring them away. We are very much in
 earnest in this.

 “Commodore Perry is also directed by me to represent to your imperial
 majesty that we understand there is a great abundance of coal and
 provisions in the empire of Japan. Our steamships, in crossing the
 great ocean, burn a great deal of coal, and it is not convenient to
 bring it all the way from America. We wish that our steamships and
 other vessels should be allowed to stop at Japan and supply themselves
 with coal, provisions, and water. They will pay for them in money,
 or anything else your imperial majesty’s subjects may prefer; and
 we request your imperial majesty to appoint a convenient port, in
 the southern part of the empire, where our vessels may stop for this
 purpose. We are very desirous of this.

 “These are the only objects for which I have sent Commodore Perry,
 with a powerful squadron, to pay a visit to your imperial majesty’s
 renowned city of Yedo: friendship, commerce, a supply of coal and
 provisions, and protection for our shipwrecked people.

 “We have directed Commodore Perry to beg your imperial majesty’s
 acceptance of a few presents. They are of no great value in
 themselves; but some of them may serve as specimens of the articles
 manufactured in the United States, and they are intended as tokens of
 our sincere and respectful friendship.

 “May the Almighty have your imperial majesty in his great and holy
 keeping!

 “In witness whereof, I have caused the great seal of the United States
 to be hereunto affixed, and have subscribed the same with my name,
 at the city of Washington, in America, the seat of my government, on
 the thirteenth day of the month of November, in the year one thousand
 eight hundred and fifty-two.

  Your good friend.

  (Seal attached.)

  “MILLARD FILLMORE.

  “By the President:
  EDWARD EVERETT, _Secretary of State_.”[115]

[Illustration: PLAYERS AT THE GAME OF “GO”]

Furnished with these orders, and this letter splendidly engrossed and
enclosed in a gold box of the value of a thousand dollars, and provided
also with a variety of presents, Commodore Perry, towards the end of
1852, sailed from the United States in the steam-frigate “Mississippi,”
and, after touching at Madeira and the Cape of Good Hope, arrived
at Hong Kong in April, 1853, whence he proceeded to Shanghai. The
dispersion of the vessels of the squadron, delay in the arrival of
others from the United States, difficulty in obtaining coal, and the
claim of the American merchants in China, in consideration of existing
civil commotions, to the protecting presence of a naval force, caused
some delays. But, at length, after touching at Lew Chew [Riūkiū], and
making a visit to the Bonin Islands,[116] Perry, with the steam-frigate
“Susquehanna,” now the flag-ship, the “Mississippi,” and the
sloops-of-war “Plymouth” and “Saratoga,” made Cape Izu about daybreak
on the 8th of July. Many rumors had been current on the coast of China
of extensive warlike preparations by the Japanese, aided by the Dutch,
and the squadron was fully prepared for a hostile reception. Perry had
made up his mind, instead of attempting to conciliate by yielding, to
stand upon his dignity to the utmost, to allow no petty annoyances, and
to demand as a right, instead of soliciting as a favor, the courtesies
due from one civilized nation to another.

The promontory constituting the province of Izu appeared, as the
vessels ran along it, to be a group of high mountains, their summits
scarred with slides, and their sides mostly wooded, though here and
there a cultivated spot could be seen. By noon the ships reached Cape
Sagami, which separates the inner from the outer bay of Yedo. The
shores of this point rose in abrupt bluffs two hundred feet high, with
green dells running down to the waterside. Further off were groves and
cultivated fields, and mountains in the distance.

Leaving behind some twelve or fifteen Japanese boats, which put off
from Cape Sagami to intercept them, the vessels stood up through the
narrowest part of the bay, not more than five to eight miles wide, but
expanding afterwards to fifteen miles, having now also in sight the
eastern shore, forming a part of the province of Awa.[117]

Within half an hour after passing Cape Sagami, they made another bold
promontory from the west, forming a second entrance to the upper bay.
In the bight formed by it lay the town of Uraga, visible from the
ships, which, sounding their way, anchored within a mile and a half of
the promontory,—a mile or more in advance of the anchorage ground of
the “Columbus” and “Vincennes.”

As the ships dropped their anchors two or three guns or mortars were
fired from the second promontory, and four or five boats put off.
They were of unpainted wood, very sharp, their greatest breadth well
towards the stern, and propelled with great rapidity by tall, athletic
rowers, naked, save a cloth about the loins, who shouted lustily as
they pulled. In the stem of each boat was a small flag, with three
horizontal stripes, the middle one black, the others white, and about
it were four or five well-dressed men with two swords in their girdles.

Some parley took place before anybody was admitted on board, that
favor being refused except to the person highest in authority in the
town. The conversation was carried on in Dutch, which the Japanese
interpreter spoke very well; and, from what he said, it was evident
that the vessels had been expected. After a long parley, in which
the high rank of the commodore, and the necessity of his being met
by persons of corresponding rank, were very much insisted upon, an
officer, representing himself as second in command at the town in
sight, was admitted on board. The commodore, however, declined to see
him in person, and turned him over to Mr. Contee, the flag lieutenant,
who, assisted by the two interpreters—one for Dutch, the other for
Chinese[118]—had a long interview with him and his interpreter in the
cabin. He was told that the object of the expedition was to deliver a
letter from the President of the United States to the Emperor, and that
some high officer must be sent on board to receive it; also, that the
squadron would not submit to be watched and guarded, after the Japanese
fashion, but that all the guard-boats must withdraw. The officer, as
usual, was very inquisitive. He wanted to know whether the vessels came
from Boston, New York, or Washington, how many men they had, etc.,
etc.; but these questions he was given to understand were regarded as
impertinent.

Seeing the determination evinced, the Japanese officer, by name
_Nakashima Saburosuke_, _Yoriki_ of the governor of Uraga, returned on
shore, taking back his official notifications in French, Dutch, and
English, addressed to ships arriving on the coast (like those given
p. 267), which the lieutenant refused to receive. He was followed
by the boats, which, after that, kept at a respectful distance. He
came back in about an hour to excuse his superior from receiving the
letter addressed to the emperor. He spoke of Nagasaki as the proper
place for foreign ships to touch at, and doubted if the letter would
be answered; but all this was cut short by the assurance that if his
superior did not send for the letter, the ships would proceed still
higher up the bay to deliver it themselves; upon which information,
much agitated, he stipulated for permission to return in the morning.
As he departed, looking at the long gun in the cabin, he exclaimed,
with an interrogative look, “Paixhan?” showing that the Japanese were
not ignorant of the modern improvements in gunnery any more than of
American geography.

It was noticed that, towards night, the boatmen put on their Japanese
gowns, most of them blue, with white stripes on the sleeves, meeting
angular-wise on the shoulders, and with a symbol or badge on the back.
Others wore gowns of red and white stripes, with a black lozenge
upon the back. A few had broad bamboo hats, like a shallow basin
inverted; but most of them were bareheaded. The officers wore light and
beautifully lackered hats, with a gilded symbol in front.

During the night watch-fires blazed along the coast, and bells were
heard sounding the hours. The next morning (Saturday), _Koyama
Yezaimon_, first in command at the town, came on board, and made
another attempt to beg off from receiving the letter to the emperor.
Finally, he proposed to send to Yedo for permission, and was allowed
three days to do it in.

Meanwhile surveying parties from the ships ran up the bay a distance of
four miles, finding everywhere from thirty to forty fathoms of water.
They sounded round the bight within which the ships lay, keeping about
a cable’s length from the shore, and finding five fathoms. Yezaimon
represented that this survey was against the Japanese laws, but was
told that, if forbidden by the laws of Japan it was commanded by
the laws of America. On approaching the forts, of which there were
five, two apparently of recent construction, the soldiers, armed with
matchlocks, came out; but, as the boats drew near, they retired again.
These forts were very feeble, mounting only fourteen guns in the
whole, none larger than nine-pounders. Of soldiers, about four hundred
were seen, many of them armed with spears. There was also, as usual,
a great show of canvas screens; but, on the whole, the warlike means
of the Japanese seemed contemptible. From the town to the end of the
promontory, a distance of a mile and a half, was an unbroken line of
villages. At least a hundred small craft lay in the harbor. The hills
behind, some five hundred feet high, were dotted with pines and other
trees. In the morning and evening, when the air was clear, Mount Fuji
might be seen in the west, sixty miles distant. The presence of the
American ships did not seem to disturb the coasting trade. Sixty or
seventy large junks, besides hundreds of boats and fishing-smacks,
daily passed up and down the bay, to and from Yedo.

On Monday, the 11th, the same surveying party proceeded up the bay
some ten miles, followed by the “Mississippi.” They were constantly
met by government boats, the officers on board which urged them by
signs to return, but of which they took no notice. Deep soundings were
everywhere obtained, with a bottom of soft mud. A deep bay was found on
the western shore, with good and safe anchoring ground.

In the evening Yezaimon returned on board, well pleased, apparently,
to be able to give information of the probability of good news from
Yedo, but rather troubled at the explorations by the boats. The flag
lieutenant, with whom he had his interviews, describes him as “a
gentleman, clever, polished, well-informed, a fine, large man, about
thirty-four, of most excellent countenance, taking his wine freely, and
a boon companion.”

The next day (the 12th) he brought information that the emperor would
send down a high officer to receive the letter. No answer would be
given immediately, but one would be forwarded through the Dutch or
Chinese. This latter proposition the commodore treated as an insult.
As, however, if he waited for an answer, excuses might easily be
found for protracting his stay in an inconvenient manner, and at last
wearying him out, he agreed to allow time for its preparation, and to
return to receive it. The following Thursday (the 14th) was appointed
for the interview with the commissioners appointed to receive the
letter, which was to take place two miles south of the town, at a
picturesque spot, on the left side of a narrow valley, extending
inland from the head of the bight. Its retired situation, and the
facility it afforded for the display of a military force, were probably
the motives of its selection.

At the hour appointed for the meeting, as the two steamers approached
the spot, long lines of canvas walls were seen stretching,
crescent-wise, quite round the head of the bight, and in front files
of soldiers with a multitude of brilliant banners. Near the centre of
the crescent were nine tall standards, with broad scarlet pennons, in
the rear of which could be seen the roof of the house prepared for the
interview. On the right, a line of fifty or sixty boats was drawn up,
parallel to the beach, each with a red flag at its stern.

The foremost files of the Japanese soldiers stood about a hundred yards
from the beach, in somewhat loose and straggling order. The greater
part were behind the canvas screens. There were a number of horses to
be seen, and in the background a body of cavalry. The Japanese stated
the number of troops at five thousand. On the slope of the hill, near
the village, was collected a crowd of spectators, of whom many were
women.

[Illustration: THEATRICAL REPRESENTATIONS: THE “NO” DANCE;
CHRYSANTHEMUM FIGURES]

As soon as the steamers dropped their anchors, they were approached
by two boats, containing their former visitors, the first and second
officers of the town, with the interpreters, very richly dressed in
silk brocade, bordered with velvet, and having on their garments of
ceremony. The steamers lay with their broadsides to the shore, ready
for action in case of treachery. Fifteen launches and cutters were
got ready, from which three hundred and twenty persons, officers,
seamen, marines, and musicians, were landed on an extemporaneous jetty
which the Japanese had formed of bags of sand. Last of all the
commodore landed with due formality, when the whole body, preceded
by the Japanese officers and interpreters, marched to the house of
reception, carrying with them the president’s letter, the box which
held it wrapped in scarlet cloth, as was also that containing the
letter of credence. In front of the houses prepared for the interview
were two old brass four-pounders, apparently Spanish, and on each side
a company of soldiers, those on one side armed with matchlocks, those
on the other with old Tower muskets, with flint locks and bayonets. The
reception building was a temporary structure, evidently put up for the
occasion. The first apartment, about forty feet square, was of canvas.
The floor was covered with white cotton cloth, with a pathway of red
felt leading across to a raised inner apartment, wholly carpeted with
the same red felt. This apartment, of which the front was entirely
open, was hung with fine cloth, stamped with the imperial symbols in
white on a ground of violet. On the right was a row of arm-chairs
for the commodore and his staff. On the opposite side sat the two
commissioners appointed to receive the letters, and who were announced
by the interpreters as the princes of Izu and Iwami [Toda Izu-no-kami,
and Ido Iwami-no-kami, Bugiōs of Uraga]. The former was a man about
fifty, with a very pleasing and intelligent face. The latter was older
by fifteen years or so, wrinkled with age, and of looks much less
prepossessing. Both were splendidly dressed, in heavy robes of silk
tissue, elaborately ornamented with threads of gold and silver. As the
commodore entered, both rose and bowed gravely, but immediately resumed
their seats and remained silent and passive as statues.

At the end of the room was a large scarlet-lackered box, standing
on gilded feet, beside which Yezaimon and one of the interpreters
knelt, at the same time signifying that all things were ready for
the reception of the letters. They were brought in, and the boxes
containing them being opened so as to display the writing and the
golden seals, they were placed upon the scarlet box, and along
with them translations in Dutch and Chinese, as well as an English
transcript. The prince of Iwami then handed to the interpreters, who
gave it to the commodore, an official receipt in Japanese, to which the
interpreter added a Dutch translation, which translated literally into
English was as follows:

 “The letter of the President of the United States of North America,
 and copy, are hereby received and delivered to the emperor. Many
 times it has been communicated that business relating to foreign
 countries cannot be transacted here in Uraga, but in Nagasaki. Now,
 it has been observed that the admiral, in his quality of ambassador
 of the president, would be insulted by it; the justice of this has
 been acknowledged; consequently the above-mentioned letter is hereby
 received, in opposition to the Japanese law.

 “Because the place is not designed to treat of anything from
 foreigners, so neither can conference nor entertainment take place.
 The letter being received, you will leave here.”

The commodore remarked, when this receipt was delivered to him, that
he should return again, probably in April or May, for an answer. “With
all the ships?” asked the interpreter. “Yes, and probably with more,”
was the reply. Nothing more was said on either side. As the commodore
departed, the commissioners rose and remained standing, and so the
interview ended, without a single word uttered on their part.

The Japanese officers of the town, with the Japanese interpreters,
accompanied the American party back to the “Susquehanna,” whose
machinery they examined with much interest. When off the town, they
were set ashore; but the steamers, to show how lightly the injunction
to leave was regarded, proceeded up the bay, and anchored a short
distance above the point reached by the “Mississippi.” In spite of
the solicitude of the Japanese officers, who came again on board, the
whole bight between the promontory of Uraga and another north of it
was carefully surveyed. At the head a river was found. The shores were
studded with villages, whose inhabitants offered to the surveying party
cold water, and peaches from their gardens. To the place where the
steamers lay the name was given of “American anchorage.”

The next day (Friday, the 15th) the “Mississippi” proceeded on an
excursion ten miles further up, and reached, as was supposed, within
eight or ten miles of the capital. On the western shore were seen two
large towns. On the extremity of a cape in front, some four miles
distant, stood a tall white tower, like a lighthouse. Three or four
miles beyond was a crowd of shipping, supposed to be the anchorage of
Shinagawa, the southern suburb of Yedo. At the point where the steamer
put about, she had twenty fathoms of water. On Saturday, the 16th, the
vessels moved to a new anchorage, five or six miles down the bay, and
much nearer the shore, and here the surveying operations were renewed.
The same day an interchange of presents took place with Yezaimon,
who, however, was induced to accept those offered to him only by the
positive refusal of his own, except on that condition. Thus pressed,
he finally took them, except some arms—articles, he said, which the
Japanese neither gave nor received. In the afternoon he came again, in
excellent humor, his conduct probably having been approved on shore,
bringing a quantity of fowls, in light wicker coops, and three or four
thousand eggs, in boxes, for which a box of garden-seeds was accepted
in return.

The next day, 17th, and the tenth since their arrival, the vessels
weighed and stood for Lew Chew, the bay being covered with boats, to
witness their departure.[119]

Commodore Perry spent the remainder of the year on the coast of China,
keeping one vessel, however, at Lew Chew, and prosecuting the survey
of the Bonin Islands. Shortly after his visit, the Shōgun died, and an
attempt was made to take advantage of that circumstance to delay or
prevent the return of the American ships. A communication, forwarded
to Batavia by the Dutch ship that left Nagasaki in November, and
communicated by the Dutch governor-general at Batavia to the commodore,
represented that the necessary mourning for the deceased sovereign, and
other arrangements consequent on his death, as well as the necessity of
consulting all the princes, must necessarily delay the answer to the
president’s letter, and suggested the danger of confusion, or “broil,”
should the squadron come back at so unseasonable a moment.

Undeterred, however, by this representation, on the 12th of February,
1854, Commodore Perry reappeared in the bay of Yedo, with three steam
frigates, four sloops-of-war, and two store-ships, and the steamers
taking the sailing vessels in tow, they all moved up to the American
anchorage.

About two weeks were spent here in fixing upon a place to negotiate,
the Japanese importuning the commodore to go back to Kamakura, twenty
miles below Uraga, or, at least, to the latter place, while he insisted
upon going to Yedo. As he declined to yield, and caused the channel to
be sounded out within four miles of Yedo, they proposed, as the place
of meeting, the village of Yokohama,[120] containing about ten thousand
people, and situated on the shore, just opposite the anchorage of the
ships. To this the commodore agreed, and the ships drew in and moored
in line, with broadsides bearing upon the shore, and covering an extent
of five miles.

“On the 8th of March,” says a letter dated on board the “Vandalia,” and
published in the New York “Journal of Commerce,” “the day appointed for
the first meeting, about nine hundred officers, seamen, and marines,
armed to the teeth, landed, and, with drums beating and colors flying,
were drawn up on the beach, ready to receive the commodore. As soon
as he stepped on shore the bands struck up, salutes were fired, the
marines presented arms, and, followed by a long escort of officers,
he marched up between the lines and entered the house erected by the
Japanese expressly for the occasion. Thousands of Japanese soldiers
crowded the shore and the neighboring elevations, looking on with a
good deal of curiosity and interest. The house was nothing but a plain
frame building, hastily put up, containing one large room—the audience
hall—and several smaller, for the convenience of attendants, etc. The
floor was covered with mats, and very pretty painted screens adorned
the sides. Long tables and benches, covered with red woollen stuff,
placed parallel to each other, three handsome braziers, filled with
burning charcoal, on the floor between them, and a few violet-colored
crape hangings suspended from the ceiling, completed the furniture of
the room. As we entered, we took our seats at one of the tables. The
Japanese commissioners soon came in, and placed themselves opposite
to us, at the other table; while behind us both, seated on the floor
on their knees[121] (their usual position, for they do not use
chairs), was a crowd of Japanese officers, forming the train of the
commissioners.

“The business was carried on in the Dutch language, through
interpreters, of whom they have several who speak very well, and two
or three who speak a little English. They were on their knees, between
the commissioners and the commodore. Our interpreter was seated by the
side of the latter. It was curious to see the intolerable ceremony
observed by them, quite humiliating to a democratic republican. A
question proposed had to pass first through the interpreters, and then
through several officers ascending in rank, before it could reach
the commissioners, every one bowing his forehead to the floor before
he addressed his superior. Refreshments were served in elegantly
lackered dishes; first of all, tea, which, as in China, is the constant
beverage; then different kinds of candy and sponge cake (they are
excellent confectioners, and very fond of sugar); lastly, oranges and
a palatable liquor distilled from rice, called sake. A flimsy banquet
like this was not very agreeable to such hungry individuals as we,
and we were the more disappointed, for, the Japanese using only
chopsticks, we had, previously to coming ashore, taken the precaution,
as we shrewdly thought, to provide ourselves with knives and forks.
Imagine, then, our chagrin when finding nothing substantial upon which
to employ them. What was left on our plates was wrapped in paper, and
given to us to carry away, according to the usual custom in Japan.

“The commissioners were intelligent-looking men, richly dressed in
gay silk petticoat pantaloons, and upper garments resembling in shape
ladies’ short gowns. Dark-colored stockings, and two elegant swords
pushed through a twisted silk girdle, finished the costume. Straw
sandals are worn, but are always slipped off upon entering a house.
They do not cover the head, the top and front part of which is shaved,
and the back and side hair, being brought up, is tied so as to form a
tail, three or four inches long, that extends forward upon the bald
pate, terminating about half way between the apex and the forehead. It
is a very comfortable fashion, and, were it not for the quantity of
grease used in dressing it, would be a very cleanly one.

“Two audiences a week were held, at which the same programme was
performed as related above, except that we fared more luxuriously.[122]
Becoming better acquainted with our taste, they feasted us with a
broth made of fish, boiled shrimps, hard-boiled eggs, and very good
raw oysters. At one of the interviews (March 13), the presents from
our government were delivered. They consisted of cloths, agricultural
implements, fire-arms, etc., and a beautiful locomotive, tender,
and passenger-car, one-fourth the ordinary size, which we put in
motion on a circular track, at the rate of twenty miles an hour. A
mile of magnetic telegraph was also erected on shore, and put in
operation. The Japanese were more interested in it than anything
else, but never manifested any wonder. So capable are they of
concealing and controlling their feelings, that they would examine
the guns, machinery, etc., of the steamers, without expressing the
slightest astonishment. They are a much finer-looking race than the
Chinese—intelligent, polite, and hospitable, but proud, licentious,
unforgiving, and revengeful.”

The death of a marine afforded an opportunity, at the first meeting
with the commissioners, of demanding a burying-place. It was proposed
to send the body to Nagasaki; but, as the commodore would not listen
to that, a spot was assigned near one of their temples, and in view of
the ships, where the body was buried, with all the forms of the English
church service, after which the Japanese surrounded the grave with a
neat enclosure of bamboo.

A formal letter of reply to the propositions contained in the letters
delivered at the former visit, repeated the story of a change of
succession, and the necessity of delays. The justice, however, of the
demands in relation to shipwrecked seamen, wood, water, provisions,
and coal, was conceded; but five years were asked before opening a new
harbor, the Americans, in the mean time, to resort to Nagasaki.

[Illustration: JAPANESE WRESTLERS]

Of Nagasaki, however, the commodore would not hear, nor of any
restrictions like those imposed on the Dutch and Chinese at that port.
He demanded three harbors, one in Nippon, one in Yezo, and a third in
Lew Chew. As to the two last, the Japanese pleaded that they were
very distant countries, and only partially subject to the emperor,
especially the last, upon which the commodore did not insist. In Nippon
he asked for Uraga, and for Matsumae in Yezo, but acceded to the
Japanese offer of Shimoda and Hakodate, having first sent a ship to
examine the former.

The commissioners were exceedingly tenacious, even upon points of
phraseology, but gave evidence of acting in entire good faith, and the
commodore conceded everything which did not seem absolutely essential.
The extent of the liberty to be allowed to American visitors was one of
the greatest difficulties.

Shortly before the treaty was concluded, the commodore gave an
entertainment on board the “Powhatan” to the Japanese officials, about
seventy in all. In conformity to their customs, two tables were spread,
one in the cabin for the commissioners and the captains of the fleet,
another on deck for the inferior officers. “They did full justice,”
says the letter-writer already quoted, “to American cookery, and were
exceedingly fond of champagne, under the influence of which they became
so very merry and familiar that one of them vigorously embraced the
commodore, who, until his epaulets began to suffer in the struggle, was
very good-naturedly disposed to endure it.”

Three copies of the treaty, in Japanese, signed by the commissioners,
were delivered to the commodore, for which he exchanged three copies
in English, signed by himself, with Dutch and Chinese translations.
This method was adopted to satisfy the commissioners, who alleged that
no Japanese could lawfully put his name to any document written in a
foreign language. The TREATY was as follows:

 “The United States of America and the Empire of Japan, desiring to
 establish, firm, lasting, and sincere friendship between the two
 nations, have resolved to fix, in a manner clear and positive, by
 means of a treaty or general convention of peace and amity, the rules
 which shall in future be mutually observed in the intercourse of their
 respective countries; for which most desirable object, the President
 of the United States has conferred full powers on his commissioner,
 Matthew Calbraith Perry, special Ambassador of the United States
 to Japan; and the august Sovereign of Japan has given similar full
 powers to his commissioners, Hayashi-Daigaku-no-kami, Ido, prince of
 Tsushima, Izawa, prince of Mimasaki, and Udono Mimbushōyu, member of
 the Board of Revenue.

 “And the said commissioners, after having exchanged their said full
 powers, and duly considered the premises, have agreed to the following
 articles:

 “ARTICLE I.—There shall be a perfect, permanent, and universal
 peace, and a sincere and cordial amity, between the United States
 of America on the one part, and between their people, respectfully
 (respectively), without exception of persons or places.

 “ARTICLE II.—The port of Shimoda, in the principality of Izu, and the
 port of Hakodate, in the principality of Matsumae, are granted by the
 Japanese as ports for the reception of American ships, where they can
 be supplied with wood, water, provisions, and coal, and other articles
 their necessities may require, as far as Japanese have them. The
 time for opening the first-named port is immediately on signing this
 treaty; the last-named port is to be opened immediately after the same
 day in the ensuing Japanese year.

 “NOTE.—A tariff of prices shall be given by the Japanese officers of
 the things which they can furnish, payment for which shall be made in
 gold and silver coin.

“ARTICLE III.—Whenever ships of the United States are thrown or wrecked
on the coast of Japan, the Japanese vessels will assist them, and
carry their crews to Shimoda or Hakodate, and hand them over to their
countrymen appointed to receive them. Whatever articles the shipwrecked
men may have preserved shall likewise be restored; and the expenses
incurred in the rescue and support of Americans and Japanese who may
thus be thrown upon the shores of either nation are not to be refunded.

“ARTICLE IV.—Those shipwrecked persons, and other citizens of the
United States, shall be free as in other countries, and not subjected
to confinement, but shall be amenable to just laws.

“ARTICLE V.—Shipwrecked men, and other citizens of the United States,
temporarily living at Shimoda and Hakodate, shall not be subject to
such restrictions and confinement as the Dutch and Chinese are at
Nagasaki; but shall be free at Shimoda to go where they please within
the limits of seven Japanese miles (or _ri_) from a small island in the
harbor of Shimoda, marked on the accompanying chart, hereto appended;
and shall, in like manner, be free to go where they please at Hakodate,
within limits to be defined after the visit of the United States
squadron to that place.

“ARTICLE VI.—If there be any other sort of goods wanted, or any
business which shall require to be arranged, there shall be careful
deliberation between the parties in order to settle such matters.

“ARTICLE VII.—It is agreed that ships of the United States resorting
to the ports open to them, shall be permitted to exchange gold and
silver coin, and articles of goods, for other articles of goods under
such regulations as shall be temporarily established by the Japanese
government for that purpose. It is stipulated, however, that the ships
of the United States shall be permitted to carry away whatever articles
they are unwilling to exchange.

 “ARTICLE VIII.—Wood, water, provisions, coal, and goods required,
 shall only be procured through the agency of Japanese officers
 appointed for that purpose, and in no other manner.

 “ARTICLE IX.—It is agreed, that if, at any future day, the government
 of Japanese shall grant to any other nation or nations privileges and
 advantages which are not herein granted to the United States and the
 citizens thereof, that these same privileges and advantages shall be
 granted likewise to the United States and to the citizens thereof
 without any consultation or delay.

 “ARTICLE X.—Ships of the United States shall be permitted to resort to
 no other ports in Japan but Shimoda and Hakodate, unless in distress
 or forced by stress of weather.

 “ARTICLE XI.—There shall be appointed by the government of the United
 States consuls or agents to reside in Shimoda, at any time after
 the expiration of eighteen months from the date of the signing of
 this treaty; provided that either of the two governments deem such
 arrangement necessary.

 “ARTICLE XII.—The present convention, having been concluded, and duly
 signed shall be obligatory, and faithfully observed by the United
 States of America and Japan, and by the citizens and subjects of
 each respective power; and it is to be ratified and approved by the
 President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent
 of the Senate thereof, and by the august Sovereign of Japan, and the
 ratification shall be exchanged within eighteen months from the date
 of the signature thereof, or sooner if practicable.

 “In faith whereof, we, the respective plenipotentiaries of the United
 States of America and the empire of Japan, aforesaid, have signed and
 sealed these presents.

 “Done at Kanagawa[123] this thirty-first day of March, in the year of
 our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, and
 of Kayei the seventh year, third month, and third day.”

The day after the signing of the treaty a number of presents were sent
on board for the president, the commodore, and other officers of the
squadron.

In agreeing to negotiate at Yokohama, Commodore Perry had stated his
intention to carry the ships, at some future time, close up to Yedo,
and to anchor them there, “as well to do honor to his imperial majesty
by salutes as to be in full view of the palace, and convenient to be
visited by such of the court as may desire to examine the steamers.”
Accordingly, on the 8th of April, to the great distress of the Japanese
officials, he got under way; but, as the Japanese interpreters
threatened to cut themselves open if he proceeded, he presently turned
about and took a lower anchorage down the bay. The published official
letters of the commander say nothing of this movement; the letters from
the fleet, published in the newspapers, do not agree as to how far up
the commodore went. According to one letter, Yedo was full in sight.

On the 18th of April the fleet sailed for Shimoda, one of the ports
granted in the treaty, of which a letter dated on board the “Powhatan,”
and published in the New York “Tribune,” gives this account:

Shimoda is situated near Cape Fògu [?], sixty miles west from Point
Sagami, at the entrance of the bay of Yedo. It is a good, commodious
harbor, well sheltered by hills several hundred feet high, with a rock
within the entrance which affords a still more protected anchorage.
The town, of about one thousand houses, is situated at the northwestern
end of the harbor, on the banks of a small stream flowing down through
a fertile valley, which is often not more than half a mile wide, but
sometimes widens to one and a half miles. Several little brooks offer
good watering-places for the ships. The larger Japanese junks mostly
anchor at Kakizaki, a village of about three hundred houses, on the
northeastern end and opposite Shimoda. There are eight temples, some
of which are very large, in the town, and little chapels (_miya_) on
almost every eminence, and by the roadsides.

“The country is exceedingly picturesque, and resembles very much the
lower ranges of the Alps. Along the little river of Shimoda are many
villages, and numbers of rice-mills stamp and grind along its banks.
About six miles above the bay this river separates into several
branches. Following either of them, you pass through numerous gorges
and glens, and finally reach the barren tops of mountains, some three
thousand feet high. Their summits and the narrow tablelands are covered
with bushy grass, among which a certain berry, upon which pheasants and
partridges feed, grows very plentifully.

“In one of the larger temples a place has been arranged for the
daguerreotype, and Mr. Brown is actively at work. He has obtained
many very fine daguerreotypes of the Japanese, and will have a
fine collection to show when he reaches home. Mr. Heine continues
his sketching, drawing, painting, gunning, skinning, pressing, and
preserving plants. Lieutenants Murray, Bent, Whiting, Nicholson,
etc., etc., have been busily engaged in the survey, and deserve no
small credit for their exertions and the important results they have
obtained.”

Of this visit to Shimoda, the officer of the “Vandalia” already quoted
thus speaks:

“Here we were permitted to go on shore and ramble about in a circuit
for ten miles, much to our delight as we all felt the want of exercise.
Excepting at Yokohama, where we were not allowed to go far from the
audience house, we had not been on shore since we left Lew Chew.
They watched us very closely at first, sending guards of soldiers to
accompany us, shutting the shops, and concealing the women; but in a
few days these restrictions were removed, and we were left undisturbed
to wander where we pleased. The town, containing eight thousand people,
is pleasantly situated in a well-cultivated valley, surrounded by high
hills that conceal from view the entrance to its safe and picturesque
harbor. The streets are wide and straight, and the better class of
houses two stories high, plastered, and roofed with elegant tiles.[124]
The interior is kept very clean and neat, and the rooms, covered with
mats, are separated from each other by sliding screens, that are closed
or removed at pleasure. There are no chimneys in Japan. A charcoal
fire is built in a little sandpit in the middle of the floor, around
which the family are usually found seated on their knees (qu. heels?),
drinking tea and smoking their pipes. Not a chair or any other piece
of furniture can be seen. Tubs of water are kept in front of each
house, as well as on the roofs, in readiness against any fire, for
conflagrations are so frequent and extensive that whole towns are
sometimes burnt down.

“The temples, chiefly Buddhist, are beautifully situated in the
suburbs. The entrance to them leads generally through rows of elegant
trees and wild camellias. They are large, plain structures, with high,
peaked roofs, resembling the houses pictured on Chinese porcelain.
In the space immediately in front is a large bell for summoning the
faithful, a stone reservoir of holy water, and several roughly hewn
stone idols. The doorway is ornamented with curious-looking dragons and
other animals, carved in wood. Upon entering, there is nothing special
about the buildings worth noting, the naked sides and exposed rafters
having a gloomy appearance. The altar is the only object that attracts
attention. It so much resembles the Roman Catholic, that I need not
describe it. Some of the idols on these altars are so similar to those
I have seen in the churches in Italy, that if they were mutually
translated I doubt whether either set of worshippers would discover
the change. The priests count beads, shave their heads, and wear
analogous robes, and the service is attended by the ringing of bells,
the lighting of candles, and the burning of incense. In fact, except
that the cross is nowhere to be seen, one could easily imagine himself
within a Roman Catholic place of worship.

“I saw some very pretty girls here. They understand the art of applying
rouge and pearl powder, as well as some of our ladies at home. The
married women have a horrid and disgusting fashion of staining their
teeth black.”

[Illustration: COMMODORE PERRY]

After remaining three weeks at Shimoda, which soon after was made
an imperial city, the sailing-vessels departed for Hakodate, followed
a few days after by the steamers. Of the island of Ōshima, near the
entrance of the bay of Yedo, and close to which the “Powhatan” passed,
the “Tribune” correspondent gives the following description:

“About noon we were within three miles of the island of Ōshima, and had
a fine opportunity of observing the traces of volcanic action which it
presents. The whole island is one immense volcano, the top of which
has fallen in and formed a great basin, which incessantly belches
forth white smoke and ashes. The edges of the crater are black, as if
charred by fire, and on the southwestern side of the island a stream of
lava reaches from the summit to the sea. Some large crevices continue
still smoking, and others are filled with ashes. A bluff near the sea,
about two hundred feet high, appears to be of recent formation, for
the bushes and trees along the edges of the lava have a yellow, burnt
appearance. The slopes of the mountain are covered with luxuriant
vegetation; and there are two towns, one on a narrow table-land, and
the other on the top of a steep cliff, near a suspicious-looking
crater. There is said to be a third village on the northwestern side of
the island.”[125]

Of Hakodate, in the island of Matsumae, already known to us by
Golownin’s description, which the squadron visited in the month of May,
the same letter affords the following account:

“Hakodate is another Gibraltar. It has the same long, low isthmus,
ending in the same mighty rock, with another city sitting at its
feet. The bay is seven or eight miles wide, with an entrance of two
or three miles in width; it is deep enough for ships-of-the-line to
approach within a mile of the shore, and its clayey bottom, free from
rocks or shoals, affords excellent anchorage, while it is defended from
the sea by a sand-bank, a prolongation of the isthmus. Behind the bay
the land is quite level, but at the distance of six or eight miles it
rises into a range of hills from one to three thousand feet high. These
hills, still covered with snow, send down several streams to the bay,
furnishing the best of water for ships. The plain is finely cultivated,
and fishing villages line the shore. We took fish plentifully,—one
day twenty buckets, with more than twenty fine salmon, some weighing
fifteen pounds.

“The city has, I should guess, about four thousand houses, and perhaps
five times as many inhabitants. The two main streets are parallel,
and run along the foot of the mountain. Narrower streets run from the
wharves up the mountain, crossing both the principal streets, one of
which is about thirty feet higher than the other. The lower of these is
almost as broad as Broadway, and infinitely cleaner. The houses on it
are well built; most of them have two stories, with shops on the ground
floor. The manner of building reminds one very strongly of Switzerland.
A flat, projecting roof is covered with shingles, which are fastened
by long poles, with stones laid upon them; broad galleries run quite
around the upper story; before the door is a little wooden porch; this,
too, with projecting gable, which, as well as the pillars that support
it, are often adorned with rich carving. The temples, one of which is
at least two hundred and fifty feet square, are profusely ornamented
with carvings. Dragons, horses, bulls, and hares figure largely, but
tortoises and cranes carry the day.”

From Hakodate, where the intercourse with the local officials was
entirely satisfactory, the ships returned to Shimoda, where, according
to an appointment previously made, the commodore met the four
commissioners, and three new ones, with whom he proceeded to negotiate
the following _Additional Regulations:_

 “ARTICLE I.—The imperial governors of Shimoda will place
 watch-stations wherever they deem best, to designate the limits of
 their jurisdiction; but Americans are at liberty to go through them,
 unrestricted, within the limits of seven Japanese ri, or miles (equal
 to sixteen English miles); and those who are found transgressing
 Japanese laws may be apprehended by the police and taken on board
 their ships.

 “ARTICLE II.—Three landing-places shall be constructed for the boats
 of merchant ships and whale ships resorting to this port; one at
 Shimoda, one at Kakizaki, and the third at the brook lying south-east
 of Centre Island. The citizens of the United States will, of course,
 treat the Japanese officers with proper respect.

 “ARTICLE III.—Americans, when on shore, are not allowed access to
 military establishments, or private houses, without leave; but they
 can enter shops and visit temples as they please.

 “ARTICLE IV.—Two temples, the Ryōsen-ji, at Shimoda, and the
 Gyokusen-ji at Kakizaki, are assigned as resting-places for persons
 in their walks, until public houses and inns are erected for their
 convenience.

 “ARTICLE V.—Near the Temple Gyokusen, at Kakizaki, a burial-ground has
 been set apart for Americans, where their graves and tombs shall not
 be molested.

 “ARTICLE VI.—It is stipulated in the treaty of Kanagawa, that coal
 will be furnished at Hakodate; but as it is very difficult for the
 Japanese to supply it at that port, Commodore Perry promises to
 mention this to his government, in order that the Japanese government
 may be relieved from the obligation of making that port a coal dépôt.

 “ARTICLE VII.—It is agreed that henceforth the Chinese language
 shall not be employed in official communications between the two
 governments, except when there is no Dutch interpreter.

 “ARTICLE VIII.—A harbor-master and three skilful pilots have been
 appointed for the port of Shimoda.

 “ARTICLE IX.—Whenever goods are selected in the shops, they shall be
 marked with the name of the purchaser and the price agreed upon, and
 then be sent to the Goyōsho, or government office, where the money is
 to be paid to Japanese officers, and the articles delivered by them.

 “ARTICLE X.—The shooting of birds and animals is generally forbidden
 in Japan, and this law is therefore to be observed by all Americans.

 “ARTICLE XI.—It is hereby agreed that five Japanese ri, or miles,
 be the limit allowed to Americans at Hakodate, and the requirements
 contained in Article I. of these Regulations are hereby made also
 applicable to that port within that distance.

 “ARTICLE XII.—His Majesty the Emperor of Japan is at liberty to
 appoint whoever he pleases to receive the ratification of the treaty
 of Kanagawa, and give an acknowledgment on his part.

 “It is agreed that nothing herein contained shall in any way affect
 or modify the stipulations of the treaty of Kanagawa, should that be
 found to be contrary to these regulations.”

Another important matter, in which the Japanese seem entirely to have
carried the day, was the settlement of the value of the American coins
to be received in payment for goods and supplies—a subject referred to
a commission composed of two United States pursers and nine Japanese.

The Japanese circulating medium was found to consist of old kas,
round, with a square hole in the middle, like the Chinese cash, but
thinner, and containing more iron; of four-kas pieces, in weight equal
to less than two of the others, probably, Kämpfer’s double zeni; but
principally of a new coin rated at one hundred kas,—apparently a
substitute for the strings of kas mentioned by Kämpfer and others.
These are oval-shaped pieces of copper, about the size and shape of
a longitudinal section of an egg, introduced within a recent period,
and weighing only as much as seven of the old kas (or, compared with
our cents, a little less than two of them). This over-valuation has,
of course, driven the old kas out of circulation, and made this
depreciated coin the integer of the currency. At the same time, it
has raised the nominal value of everything, as is evident in the
case of silver and gold. Instead of one thousand kas to the tael of
silver, the rate in former times, the government, which appears to
have the monopoly of the mines, sells silver bullion for manufacturing
use at two thousand two hundred and fifty kas for the tael,—a rate
fixed probably under some less depreciated state of the currency. But
when coined, a tael’s weight of silver is reckoned in currency at
six thousand four hundred kas, that is, at six tael and four mas, or
precisely the valuation, in Kämpfer’s time, of the gold koban; and
as the ichibu of his day, that is, _one fourth part_, as the word
signifies in Japanese, represented sixteen hundred kas in real weight
of silver, so the ichibu of the present day, of which there is both
a silver and a gold one, represents sixteen hundred kas of currency.
The bullion price of gold in Japan is only eight and a half times that
of silver instead of sixteen times, as with us; while in currency the
difference in value is only about as one to three and a half, the
price in silver, or copper hundred-kas pieces, of a tael’s weight of
gold bullion being nineteen taels, and the same when coined passing
as twenty-three taels, seven mas and five kanderin. Besides the gold
ichibu, the Japanese are represented as having three other gold coins,
thin, oval pieces, of the currency value respectively of one, ten, and
twenty taels;[126] also a coin, made of gold and silver, worth half an
ichibu, or eight hundred-kas pieces, and a small silver piece, worth a
quarter of an ichibu, or four hundred-kas pieces.

The Japanese commissioners insisted that our coin was but bullion
to them, the effect of which is to put our silver dollar, so far as
payments in Japan are concerned, precisely on a level with their silver
ichibu, which weighs only one third as much. Our gold coins, compared
with their gold coins, stand better, the relative weight of our gold
dollar and their gold ichibu being as 65.33 to 52.25; but as the copper
hundred-kas piece is their standard, and as its value in relation to
gold is rated so much higher than with us, our gold dollar, estimated
in this way, becomes worth only eight hundred and thirty-six kas, or
little more than eight and a third hundred-kas pieces, or not much more
than half an ichibu; the effect of all which is to give the Japanese
government, through whose hands all payments are made, a profit, after
recoinage, of sixty-six per cent, upon all payments in American coin.
As the Japanese commissioners would not depart from this scheme, the
commission dissolved without coming to any agreement on this point.
But the supplies furnished to the squadron were paid for at the rate
insisted upon by the Japanese; nor can private traders, as matters
stand, expect any better terms.

The rates of pilotage at Shimoda were fixed at fifteen dollars for
vessels drawing over eighteen feet, five dollars for vessels drawing
less than thirteen feet, and ten dollars for those of intermediate
size; only half of these rates to be paid in case of anchorage in the
outer harbor. Water was to be furnished at fourteen hundred kas the
boat-load, the ship finding casks. Wood was to be delivered on board at
seven thousand two hundred kas per cube of five American feet.

The price put by the Japanese upon a few tons of inferior coal,
brought to Shimoda, amounted, at their rate of exchange, to
twenty-eight dollars the ton. It did not appear that coal was anywhere
else mined except at the spot visited by Kämpfer and Siebold near
Kokura, and another mine in the province of Awa, in the island Shikoku.

The business thus completed, a parting entertainment was given on
board the “Mississippi”; and, after an interchange of presents, the
vessels on the 26th of June took their departure. Stopping at Lew Chew,
Commodore Perry negotiated a compact with the authorities of that
island, which, from all the information he could obtain, he concluded
to be a nearly independent sovereignty.

Within fifteen days after Commodore Perry’s departure from Shimoda,
the clipper ship “Lady Pierce,” from San Francisco, fitted out for the
express purpose of being the first American ship to arrive in Japan
after the opening of commercial relations, entered the bay of Yedo,
with the owner, Silas E. Burrows, on board.

He had with him a Japanese seaman, the sole survivor of a crew of
fifteen men, belonging to a junk which had been blown out to sea, and
was picked up near the Sandwich Islands, after having drifted about
for seven months. This man, who is represented as quite intelligent,
and who had resided for some time at San Francisco, was received with
lively demonstrations of pleasure by his countrymen.

[Illustration: THE RECEPTION OF COMMODORE PERRY BY THE JAPANESE EMPEROR]

With a party of the Uraga officials on board, the “Lady Pierce”
proceeded to within ten miles of Yedo, and her owners expressed a
desire to anchor off that city; but this was objected to by the
officers, who said, “It is not good; Commodore Perry did not go
there, and we hope you will not.”

During the stay of the vessel, every part of her was crowded with
visitors; and although at one time there must have been several
thousands in and around the ship, and although everything, silverware
included, was thrown open to their inspection, not a single article was
stolen.

Large presents of silk, porcelain, lackered ware, etc., were made to
Mr. Burrows, who, however, was informed that henceforward no foreign
intercourse would be permitted with Yedo, but that all vessels must
proceed either to Shimoda or Hakodate. Mr. Burrows himself proceeded
to Shimoda, but does not seem to have formed a very high idea of the
prospects of trade there.[127]

On the 18th of September, the steam-frigate “Susquehanna” again
appeared at Shimoda, on her way home via the Sandwich Islands,
followed on the 21st by the “Mississippi”; three days after which, the
“Susquehanna” left, and the “Mississippi” on the 1st of October. The
reception given to the officers of both ships was very cordial, and
their intercourse both with officials and the towns-people was almost
entirely free from any marks of that restraint and apparent suspicion
exhibited on former occasions. Besides an interchange of visits and
dinners, several Japanese officials attended, on a Sunday, divine
service on board the “Susquehanna.”

“Many of us,” writes an officer of the “Mississippi,” “entered houses
very frequently, and sat down with the people to smoke or drink tea.
One day the sound of a guitar attracted me, and I found an olive girl,
of some fifteen or sixteen years, who, not perceiving my presence,
continued her play. It was a strange tune, wild and melancholy, and
often abruptly interrupted by harsh accords. After a while some women
that had assembled around us made the girl aware of my presence; she
threw down her instrument and began to cry, and I could not induce her
to play again. The guitar was made of wood, with the exception of the
upper lid. Of the three strings, two were in the octave, the middle
one giving the fifth. The strings were not touched by the fingers, but
with a flat piece of horn, held between the thumb and third finger of
the right hand, in shape not unlike the one painters use to clean their
palettes and mix their colors.

“On another occasion I heard a young man playing a flute. This
instrument was of the most primitive description, consisting only of a
piece of hollow bamboo, bored with seven finger-holes, and the hole for
the mouth. The tunes were very strange, and appeared to me more like a
mass of confused sounds, than a regular harmony.[128]

“At the beginning of the new moon, I saw in several houses a sort of
domestic worship. A number of women had assembled before the shrine of
the household god, and, divided in two parties, were singing hymns,
one party alternately answering the other. Their song was accompanied
by strokes upon a little bell or gong, with a small wooden hammer;
and, as the bells were of different tones, the effect was by no means
unpleasant.”

“There are a number of temples near Shimoda,” writes an officer of the
“Susquehanna,” “and attached to each is a graveyard. At one of these,
situated near a village, there is a place set apart for Americans. Here
Dr. Hamilton was buried, being laid by the side of two others who had
died on the second visit of the ships. Each grave has its appropriate
stone, as with us, and by many of them are evergreens set in vases, or
joints of bamboo, containing water. Cups of fresh water are also set by
the graves, and to these, birds of dazzling plumage and delightful song
come and drink. The graves of the Americans were not forgotten.”

The officers were permitted to go into the country any distance they
wished, and the country people were found pleasant and sociable; but
upon this second visit the advantages of Shimoda as a place of trade,
or the prospects of traffic under the treaty, do not seem to have
struck the visitors very favorably. “The harbor,” writes an officer
of the “Susquehanna” to the “Tribune,” “is a small indentation of
land, running northeast and southwest, about a half-mile in extent,
and is capable of holding five or six vessels of ordinary size. It
is, however, entirely unprotected from the southwest winds, which
bring with them a heavy sea, and which renders the anchorage very
unsafe. With the wind from the north and the east, the vessel rides
at her ease at her anchorage. Good wood and sweet water, as well as
a few provisions, were obtained from the authorities, for the use of
the ships, at the most extravagant prices. Numerous articles, such as
lackered and China ware, of a very fine and delicate quality, and far
superior to that manufactured in China, were purchased by the officers;
but every article had to pass through the hands of the Japanese
officers, and the amount due the merchants had to be paid, not to them
but to the Japanese officials who had been appointed for that very
purpose by the mayor of the city and the governor of the province. This
article of the treaty will be most scrupulously enforced; and this is
decidedly its worst feature.”

“Shimoda,” writes another officer, “does not appear well calculated,
upon the whole, for a place of trade, and it can never become an active
commercial town. Neither is it a manufacturing town. This, added to the
fact that the harbor is a bad one, will make it appear evident that the
Japanese commissioners got the better of us in the treaty, as far as
this place is concerned.

“The surrounding country (wherever nature will permit it) is highly
cultivated. The valley of the creek is broad and well tilled, yielding
rice, millet, Egyptian corn and maize.[129] The ears produced by the
last are very small, being not more than from two to four inches in
length. Sweet potatoes and the eggplant are also raised in great
abundance. There are no horses about Shimoda, and bullocks are made
to supply their places. Provisions, with the exception of eggs and
vegetables, cannot be obtained here. The shark and bonito are the only
large fish found in the harbor. Small fish are plentiful, and they seem
to form almost the only article of food of the inhabitants, besides
rice.”

The following description of the houses at Shimoda, by Mr. S. Wells
Williams, will serve to illustrate the descriptions of Japanese houses
already given from Kämpfer and Thunberg, and will show how little, as
to that matter, Japan has altered since their time:

“The houses in Shimoda are built merely of pine boards, or of plaster
thickly spread over a wattled wall of laths, the interstices of which
are filled in with mud. In some cases these modes of construction are
combined—the front and rear being of boards, or sliding panels, and the
sides of mud. When thoroughly dried, the mud is whitewashed, and the
plain surface worked into round ridges, three inches high, crossing
each other diagonally from the roof to the ground; the ridges are
then washed blue, and give the exterior a checker-board look, which,
though singular, is more lively than a blue mud wall. The plaster is
excellent, and these walls appear very solid and rather pretty when
new; at a distance one would even think them to be stone; but after a
few years the ridges loosen, the rain insinuates itself beneath the
outer coating, and the whole begins to scale and crack off, disclosing
the mud and rushes, and then the tenement soon falls to pieces. Still
the progress of decay is not so rapid as one would think, judging only
by the nature of the materials, and the walls are well protected by the
projecting eaves. No bricks are used in building, nor are square tiles
for floors seen; and the manner of making walls common in southern
China, by beating sanded clay into wooden moulds, is unknown.

“Some of the best houses and temples have stone foundations, a few only
of which are made of dressed stone. Half a dozen or more storehouses
occur, faced entirely with slabs of stone, and standing detached from
other buildings, and are doubtless fire-proof buildings. There are no
cellars under the houses; the floors are raised on sleepers only two
feet above the beaten ground, and uniformly covered with straw mats
stuffed with chaff, or grass an inch thick. The frames are of pine, the
joists four or five inches square, and held together by the flooring of
the attic, as well as the plates and ridge-pole. The houses and shops
join each other on the sides, with few exceptions, leaving the front
and rear open. There is no uniformity in the width of the lots, the
fronts of some shops extending twenty, thirty, or more feet along the
street, while intermediate ones are mere stalls not over ten feet wide.

“The shops succeed each other without any regular order as to their
contents, those of the same sort not being arranged together, as is
often the case in China. The finer wares are usually kept in drawers,
so that, unless one is well acquainted with the place, he cannot easily
find the goods he seeks. The eaves of the houses project about four
feet from the front and are not over eight feet from the ground; the
porch thus made furnishes a covered place for arranging crockery,
fruits, etc., for sale, trays of trinkets on a movable stall, baskets
of grain, or other coarse articles, to attract buyers. The entrance
is on one side, and the path leads directly through to the rear. The
wooden shutters of shops are all removed in the daytime, and the
paper windows closed, or thrust aside, according to the weather. On a
pleasant day the doors are open, and in lieu of the windows a screen
is hung midway so as to conceal the shopman and his customer from
observation, while those goods placed on the stand are still under his
eye. A case, with latticed or wire doors, to contain the fine articles
of earthen ware, a framework, with hooks and shelves, to suspend
iron utensils or wooden ware, or a movable case of drawers, to hold
silks, fine lackered ware, or similar goods, constitute nearly all
the furniture of the shops. Apothecaries’ shops are hung with gilded
signs and paper placards, setting forth the variety and virtues of
their medicines, some of which are described as brought from Europe.
The partition which separates the shop from the dwelling is sometimes
closed, but more usually open; and a customer has, generally speaking,
as much to do with the mistress as the master of the establishment.
When he enters, his straw sandals are always left on the ground as he
steps on the mats and squats down to look at the goods, which are then
spread out on the floor. A foreigner has need of some thoughtfulness in
this particular, as it is an annoyance to a Japanese to have his mats
soiled by dirty feet, or broken through by coarse shoes.

[Illustration: SCENE IN THE HARBOR OF URAGA]

“The rear of the building is appropriated to the family. Here the
domestic operations are all carried on; here the family take their
meals in the day; here, on the same mats, do they sleep at night;
receiving visitors and dressing the children are also done here, and
sometimes the cooking too. Usually this latter household task is
performed in the porch in the rear, or in an out-house, so that the
inmates are not so much annoyed with smoke as they are in Hakodate.
No arrangements for warming the dwelling are to be found, except
that of hand-braziers placed in the middle of the room with lighted
charcoal, around which the family gather. In most of the houses there
is a garret, reached by a ladder,—a dark and small apartment, where
some goods can be stored, or servants can be lodged. There is not a
house in the town whose occupants have arranged this attic with windows
and stairways to make it a pleasant room; a few such were, however,
seen near the capital, at Kanagawa, and in its vicinity.

“The roofs of all the best buildings are hipped, and covered with
bluish tiling, each tile being about eight inches square, shaped
somewhat like a wedge; the thick side is so made that, when laid on the
rafters, it laps sideways over the thin edge of the adjoining tile in
the next row, and thus forms gutters somewhat like the Chinese roofs.
They are washed in alternate rows of white and blue, which, with the
checkered walls, imparts a lively aspect, and contrasts pleasantly
with the more numerous dingy thatched roofs. The thatched roofs are
made of a species of Arundo, grown and prepared for this purpose,
and answering admirably as a cheap and light covering to the wooden
tenements occupied by most of the people. It is matted into a compact
mass eighteen inches thick, as it is laid on, and then the surface and
the sides are neatly sheared. The ridge-pole is protected by laying the
thatch over a row of hoops that enclose it enough to overlap the edges
on both slopes, and prevent the rain finding entrance. One cannot feel
surprise at the ravages fires make in Japanese towns, where the least
wind must blow the flame upon such straw coverings, which, like a
tinder-box, would ignite at the first spark. Wires are stretched along
the ridges of some of the tiled roofs in Shimoda to prevent birds from
resting on the houses.

“In the rear yards, attached to a large number of the dwellings,
are out-houses, and sometimes, as in the lodging-houses, additional
sleeping-rooms. Kitchen-gardens are not unfrequently seen, and more
rarely fancy fish-ponds, dwarfed trees, and even stone carvings. A
family shrine, made like a miniature house, containing images of
penates and lares, is met with in most of the yards. Only a few of them
are adorned with large trees, and still fewer of them exhibit marks of
care or taste, presenting in this respect an observable contrast to
the neatness of the houses. High hedges or stone walls separate these
yards when they are contiguous, but the depth of the lots is usually
insufficient to allow room for both the opposite dwellings the luxury
of a garden.

“There is not much variety in the structure of the various buildings
in Shimoda, and their general appearance denotes little enterprise
or wealth. The paper windows and doors, not a few of them dirty and
covered with writing, or torn by children to take a peep inside, impart
a monotonous aspect to the streets. Dyers’, carpenters’, blacksmiths’,
stone-cutters’, and some other shops, have latticed fronts to admit
more light, which are elevated above the observation of persons
passing by. In front of those dwellings occupied by officials, a white
cotton curtain, three feet wide, is stretched along the whole length
of the porch, having the coat of arms of the occupant painted on it
in black; the names of the principal lodgers are also stuck on the
door-posts. Signs are mostly written on the doors, as the windows
are drawn aside during the day; but only a portion of the shops have
any. Lodging-houses, barbers’ shops, restaurants, or tea-houses,
apothecaries, and a few others, are almost always indicated by signs.
One dealer in crockery and lackered ware has the sign of a celebrated
medicine placed on a high pole, and, the more to attract attention,
has written the name in foreign letters. As in China, placards for
medicines were the most conspicuous of all, but none are pasted upon
blank walls; all are suspended in the shops. However, no dwelling or
shop is left unprotected from the ill-usage of malignant spirits, every
one having a written or printed charm or picture (sometimes a score or
more) over the door to defend the inmates from evil.”

In the interval between Commodore Perry’s first and second visits to
the bay of Yedo, Nagasaki was visited by a Russian squadron. On the 7th
of September, 1854, just before the last visit of the “Mississippi”
and “Susquehanna” to Shimoda, a British squadron of three steamers and
a frigate arrived at Nagasaki under Admiral Sterling. These British
vessels, which found the annual Dutch trading-ship, two large Chinese
junks, also a Dutch steamer, lying in the harbor, encountered the usual
reception, being served with notices, surrounded with boats, and denied
liberty to land. At length, however, after a deal of negotiation and
threats to proceed to Yedo, it was agreed to furnish supplies, tea,
rice, pigs, etc., and to receive payment through the Dutch. On the 15th
the admiral landed, and was conducted in state to the governor’s house.
The guard-boats were withdrawn, and the men were allowed to land on an
island to recreate themselves. Other interviews followed, presents were
interchanged, and, on the 19th, the squadron left. These particulars
are drawn from the published letter of a medical officer on board, who
describes the supplies furnished as very good, and the Japanese soy as
cheap and nice, but who does not seem to have relished the sake, which
he likens in taste to acetate of ammonia water.

The American war-steamer “Powhatan” visited Shimoda February 21, 1855,
to complete the exchange of ratification, which done, she sailed again
two days after. The town of Shimoda was found in a state of desolation
and ruin, from the effects of a disastrous earthquake, on the 23d of
December previous, in which the Russian frigate “Diana,” then lying in
the harbor to complete the pending negotiations, was so damaged as to
have sunk in attempting to make a neighboring port for repairs. Ōsaka
and Yedo were reported to have suffered severely, and Yedo still more
from a subsequent fire.

 [See also “Matthew Calbraith Perry” (Griffis) and the Official Report
 of Commodore Perry’s Expedition.—EDR.]




CHAPTER XLVI

 _New Dutch Treaty—Mr. Harris, American Consul at Shimoda—His
 Convention with the Japanese—His Journey to Yedo—Second Visit
 to Yedo—Conditional Treaty—British Treaty—French and Russian
 Treaties—Japanese Embassies to the United States, A.D. 1854-1860._


The success of the Americans in forming a treaty with Japan led to
negotiations on the part of the Dutch, by which the narrow privileges
enjoyed by that nation were considerably extended. By this treaty,
which was signed January 30, 1856, the ports open to the Americans were
opened also to the Dutch. They were allowed to exercise their religion,
and to bring their wives and children to Japan. They were authorized to
trade directly with Japanese merchants, and to hold free intercourse at
Deshima with other foreigners. They, in their turn, undertook to supply
the Japanese with a war steamer, and to give them instruction in naval
matters.

In August, 1856, the United States steamer “San Jacinto” arrived at
Shimoda, bringing out Mr. Townsend Harris, a merchant of New York, who
had been appointed consul to Japan; as it proved, a very judicious
selection.[130] A temple near Shimoda was appointed for his residence,
but the whole circumstances of his reception showed that the Japanese
dislike of foreign intercourse remained almost as strong as ever. They
had taken some steps, however, to execute the treaty. They had built
a stone landing-place at Shimoda, had brought from the mines several
hundred tons of coal, and had constructed a large bazaar for the sale
to Americans of Japanese wares. But it was very apparent that Shimoda,
from its situation, never could become a place of much trade; while
the necessity of purchasing through a Japanese official, and the low
valuation put upon American wares, as estimated in Japanese currency,
were additional obstacles.

Mr. Harris obtained the confidence and good-will of the authorities at
Shimoda, and succeeded in negotiating a convention, in March, 1857, by
which American citizens were allowed to reside at Shimoda and Hakodate,
and to trade at Nagasaki; and by which, also, it was hoped that the
currency difficulty would be arranged.

Mr. Harris had brought with him a letter from the president to the
emperor, and at length, after much importunity and more than a year’s
delay, he obtained leave to visit Yedo to deliver it. Yedo is only
eighty miles by land from Shimoda, yet it took several days to make the
journey. Mr. Harris thus describes it in a private letter:

 “My train numbered some one hundred and fifty persons, composed of
 guards, norimono-bearers, cooks, grooms, shoe-bearers, cane-bearers,
 fan-bearers, and last, though not least, a standard-bearer, and a
 large number of coolies. I had permitted the Japanese to arrange
 and dress my train according to their ideas of propriety, and what
 they conceived was due to the representative of the President of
 the United States. My guards, each with two swords in the girdle,
 and clad in new silk dresses, as they swelled and strutted about,
 appeared to be ‘mightily uplifted in heart,’ while they and my bearers
 and grooms appeared to have ‘broken out’ all over their bodies with
 ‘spread eagles,’ as the back, breast, and sleeves of their dresses
 were sprinkled over with the arms of the United States, which were
 neatly painted on them. I performed the journey partly on horseback,
 and partly in a norimono, which is the Japanese name for a palanquin.
 The Japanese norimono will compare with the celebrated iron cage of
 Cardinal Balue, of France, in which the poor inmate could neither lie
 down nor stand up. In the norimono the Japanese kneel and place their
 feet close together, and then sit on their heels; if they wish to
 repose themselves they lean forward, and rest the chin on their knees,
 so that the body and limbs form three horizontal folds or piles—a
 position that they assume and keep without annoyance, from long
 practice, and from the great flexibility of their joints, but which is
 almost unattainable by a white man, and is absolutely unendurable.

 “I had a norimono made for me seven feet long, and in it I put a
 mattress and pillows, which made it as comfortable as the Indian
 palanquin; but, of all modes of travelling, the camel, the elephant,
 and the palanquin are the most fatiguing.

 “On the morning of Monday, November 23, I started for a long-desired
 goal of my wishes. Four lads, with small bamboo wands, led the way as
 harbingers, and their voices sounded quite musical as they sang the
 Japanese words for ‘clear the way,’ ‘kneel down,’ ‘kneel down.’ Next
 followed a Japanese officer on horseback; then came a large lackered
 tablet, bearing my name and titles in immense Chinese characters.
 The tablet was supported by two huge transparent lanterns, which
 bore similar inscriptions. (When I halted, the tablet was placed in
 front of my quarters, and at night the lanterns were lighted and hung
 up over the gate of the house.) Next came a stout fellow, bearing
 the ‘stars and stripes,’ with four guards. I followed, either on
 horseback or in my norimono, and attended by twelve guards. Next came
 Mr. Heusken (interpreter), and after him I do not recollect how it was
 arranged, except that the Vice-Governor brought up the rear.

 “For the first three days the route was entangled among mountains
 and deep ravines which compose the peninsula of Izu. The path (for
 it could not be called a road) was narrow, and in many places was
 formed by cutting steps in the Fufa rocks, and sometimes it ran
 over mountains four thousand feet high. On the second day I reached
 Ugashima, and as I emerged from the gorges of Mount Amagi, I had my
 first view of ‘Fuji Yama,’ the ‘Matchless Mountain.’ The sight was
 grand beyond description. As viewed from the Temple at Ugashima, the
 mountain appears to be entirely isolated, and shoots up in a glorious
 and perfect cone ten thousand feet high! It was covered with snow,
 and in a bright sunlight it glittered like frosted silver. For the
 two nights I was lodged in temples, which had been fitted up for me
 with new bath-rooms, and other appliances to contribute to my comfort.
 On the evening of the third day I arrived at Mishima, a town on the
 Tōkaidō or great East Road, and from thence to Yedo the road is wide
 and good. On the great roads of Japan nice buildings are erected for
 the accommodation of the princes when they travel; they are called
 Honjin; and it was in them that I had my quarters for the remainder of
 my journey.

 “My first day’s journey on the Tō-kai-dō was over the mountain Hakone,
 which is some four thousand and five hundred feet high.

 [Illustration: TOWNSEND HARRIS]

 “The passage of Mount Hakone was not completed until after nightfall;
 but I did not regret being belated, as it afforded me the novel
 sight of my train brilliantly lighted by a large number of huge
 bamboo torches. As the train twisted and turned among the descents
 of the mountain, it looked like the tail of a huge fiery dragon.
 On reaching the plain I was met by the authorities of the city of
 Odawara, and a whole army of lanterns, of all imaginable sizes and
 colors, each being decorated with the arms of its owner, and the whole
 forming an _ensemble_ that was lively and pleasing. I passed Sunday,
 the 29th of November, at Kawasaki. From my first arrival in Japan up
 to the present day, I have always refused to transact any business or
 to travel on Sunday. I soon got the Japanese to understand my motive,
 and I am sure it has increased their respect for me.

 “The roads were all repaired, and cleanly swept, on the whole of my
 route, before I passed; bridges were put in order, and many new ones
 built; all travel on the road was stopped, so that I did not see those
 crowds of travellers, priests, nuns, etc., described by Kämpfer; the
 shops in all the towns and villages were closed (except cook-shops and
 tea-houses), and the inhabitants, clad in their holiday clothes, knelt
 on mats spread in front of their houses; not a sound was heard, nor
 a gesture indicative of curiosity seen; all was respectful silence.
 The people were ordered to cast down their eyes as I passed, as I
 was too high even to be looked at; but this order was only partially
 obeyed, for the dear daughters of Eve would have a peep, regardless
 of consequences. The authorities of the towns and villages met me at
 their boundaries, and saluted me by kneeling and ‘knocking head’; they
 then led the way through their little jurisdictions, and took leave by
 similar prostrations.

 “On Monday, the 30th of November, I made my entry into Yedo. My
 followers put on their kamishimo, or dresses of ceremony, decorated
 with any quantity of eagles.

 “I should not have known when I passed the line which separates
 Shinagawa from Yedo, had the spot not been pointed out to me, as the
 houses form a continuous street for some miles before you reach the
 actual boundary of the city. From the gate by which I entered the
 city to my quarters was about seven miles. The streets of Yedo are
 divided into sections of one hundred and twenty yards, by gates and
 palisades of strong timber. This enables the police to isolate any
 portion of the city, or any line running through it, and thus prevent
 the assembling of crowds or mobs. When we approached a gate, it was
 opened, and as soon as the rear had passed through, it was closed.
 The gates of all the cross streets were also kept closed. I could see
 immense crowds beyond the gates, but the people on our actual line
 of march were those only that occupied the buildings on the route.
 Notwithstanding all this, the number that assembled was prodigious.
 The centre of the way was kept clear, and the crowd kept back by ropes
 stretched along each side of the street. The assemblage was composed
 of men, women, and children, of all ranks and conditions—the women
 being the larger number. I estimated the two lines of people that
 extended along the way, from my entrance into the city to the place
 provided for my residence, to have been full three hundred thousand.
 Yet in all this vast concourse I did not hear a word, except the
 constant cry of the harbingers, _Sátu, sátu!_[?].

 “You may think it impossible that silence could have been maintained
 among so large a number of women, but I assure you it was so.

 “The house prepared for me was situated within the fourth circle of
 the castle, or aristocratic portion of the city, and large enough to
 accommodate five hundred persons, in the Japanese manner.

 “On my arrival I was warmly welcomed by my good friend the Prince of
 Shinano [Inouye Shinano-no-kami], who showed me the various provisions
 that had been made for my accommodation and comfort, and which
 included chairs, tables, bedsteads, etc., none of which are used by
 the Japanese.

 “The following day the Prince of Tamba [Toki Tamba-no-kami] visited me
 in great state. He said he came as a ‘special embassador’ from the
 Emperor to congratulate me on my arrival, and to ask after my health.
 After receiving these compliments, and making a suitable reply, the
 Prince pointed to a large box, which he said was a present to me from
 his Majesty. I found the box contained five large trays of bon-bons,
 weighing one hundred pounds.

 “I subsequently visited the hereditary Prince of Hotta [Hotta
 Bitchū-no-kami], Chief of the great Council of State and Minister for
 Foreign Affairs. The visit was a pleasant one, and the arrangements
 for my audience were completed. I gave the Prince a copy of my
 intended speech to the Emperor, and before I left, he gave a copy
 of the reply the Emperor would make to me. By this arrangement, the
 speeches being both translated beforehand, we would be enabled to
 dispense with the presence of interpreters at the audience. On the
 Monday week after my arrival, I set out for the Palace. My train
 blazed out in new silk dresses, and my guard wore their breeches
 rolled up to the middle of the thigh. You must know that the wearing
 of breeches in Japan is a mark of high rank, or, if worn by an
 inferior, that he is in the service of one of the highest rank. A new
 flag, made of Japanese crape, was carried before me. This flag is the
 first foreign banner that was ever carried through this great city,
 and I mean to preserve it as a precious relic. The distance from my
 residence to the Palace was over two miles. On arriving at the bridge
 over the third moat, or ditch, all my train left their horses and
 norimono, and proceeded on foot. I continued in my norimono, and was
 carried over three moats, and through as many fortified gateways,
 up to the gate of the Palace itself. I was received at the entrance
 by two chamberlains, who, having ‘knocked head,’ conducted me to an
 apartment where I found a chair for my use. Tea, bon-bons, and other
 refreshments, were often offered to me. A large number of the princes
 came to be presented to me. At length I was told the Emperor was
 ready to receive me. I passed through a large hall, in which some
 three hundred to four hundred of the high nobles of Japan, all dressed
 in their court dresses, were kneeling, and as silent and as motionless
 as statues; and from this hall I entered the audience-chamber. At
 this moment a chamberlain called out, in a loud voice, ‘Merrican
 Embassador,’ and the Prince of Shinano threw himself down and crawled
 along as I walked in. Mr. Heusken, my secretary, who carried the
 President’s letter, halted to the entrance; I advanced up the room,
 making three bows as I proceeded, and halted at the head of two lines
 of men, who were prostrate on their faces; those on my right were the
 five members of the Council of State, with the Prince of Bitchū at
 their head and those on the left were three brothers of the Emperor.

 “His Majesty was seated on a chair placed on a dais, elevated some
 three feet above the floor of the chamber. He was dressed in yellow
 silk, and wore a black lackered cap that utterly defies description.
 After a short pause, I made my address to him; and, after a similar
 pause, he replied to me in a clear and pleasant voice. When the
 Emperor had finished, Mr. Heusken brought the President’s letter to
 me. I removed the silk cover (striped, red and white), opened the box,
 and displayed the writing to the Prince of Bitchū, who now stood up.
 Then, closing the box, I handed it to the Prince, who placed it on a
 lackered stand, prepared for the purpose. Mr. Heusken having returned
 to his place, and the Prince being again prostrate, the Emperor bowed
 to me, smiling pleasantly at the same time. This ended my audience,
 and I backed out of the room, making three bows as I retired.

 “The usual dress of the Japanese nobles is of silk; but the court
 dress is made of a coarse yellow glass-cloth, and for a coronet they
 wear a black lackered affair that looks like a distracted night-cap.
 I did not see a single gem, jewel, or ornament of any kind, on the
 person of the Emperor, or on those of his courtiers, who comprised the
 great nobility of Japan.

 “From the audience-chamber I was taken to another room, when I found
 the five great Councillors of State, who, having been presented to
 me, congratulated me on my audience, and expressed their wonder and
 astonishment at what they called my ‘greatness of heart.’ When I asked
 for an explanation, they said that they were filled with admiration
 to see me stand erect, look the awful ‘Tycoon’ [_Taikun_] in the
 face, speak plainly to him, hear his reply—and all this without any
 trepidation, or any ‘quivering of the muscles of the side.’ I write
 all this to let you see that the Japanese princes understand the use
 of court compliments. I was then shown a present of fifteen silken
 robes from his Majesty, and was taken to a room where a banquet, set
 out on sixty trays, twelve inches high, was prepared for my single
 stomach. There was food enough for one hundred hungry men!

 “You must know that the dinner-trays (like the breeches) are a mark
 of rank in Japan; and the rank indicated by the height of the trays,
 which vary from three to twelve inches in height. Again, if the trays
 are lackered it diminishes the honor connected with the actual height
 of the tray, for it indicates that it can be used on another occasion;
 but if it be made of unpainted cypress wood, the honor is complete,
 for it says, as plain as words can do, ‘You are so sublime in your
 rank that no one can dare to eat from a tray that you have used!’ My
 attention was particularly called both to the height of the trays, and
 to the flattering fact, that, ‘by a special edict,’ they were made of
 unvarnished wood. You must know that this same dinner had been the
 subject of grave discussion, both in Shimoda and in Yedo. They were
 very anxious that I should eat at the Palace. I replied that I would
 do so cheerfully, provided a person or persons of suitable rank would
 eat with me; but said that self-respect would forbid my eating at a
 table where my host or his representative declined to sit down. When
 I had admired the very neat arrangement of the banquet, I was again
 asked to sit down. I then said, ‘Say to his Majesty that I thank him
 for his offered entertainment.’ At last the whole affair was sent to
 my quarters, where I distributed it among my Shimoda followers.

 “After the exhibition of the dinner I was reconducted to the room I
 first entered, and, after I had drank of the celebrated ‘powdered
 tea,’ I left, being conducted to the entrance by the two chamberlains,
 who knocked head with all the force that was due to one who had ‘seen
 the king, and yet _lived_.’ By the way, I forgot to state that the old
 formula of an audience, which was ‘kneel down,’ ‘knock head, so that
 the by-standers can hear your skull crack,’ if it ever did exist at
 the court at Yedo, was not used in my case. A faint request was made
 to me, at Shimoda, that I would kneel, but I told them the request was
 offensive, and must not be repeated. That ended it.

 “My return to Shimoda was on a steamer presented to the Japanese by
 the Dutch.”

In April, 1858, Mr. Harris returned again to Yedo, and after three
months spent in arguing with the Japanese that it would be impossible
for them to maintain their policy of isolation, he succeeded in
negotiating a new treaty. By this treaty, the port of Kanagawa, present
Yokohama, a suburb of Yedo, was substituted for Shimoda as a place for
American trade and residence; and in 1860, Hiōgo, the harbor of the
most commercial city of Ōsaka, was also to be opened to them. American
residents were to enjoy religious freedom, and the privilege of direct
trade with the Japanese merchants. The right to have an ambassador
resident at Yedo was also included; a position since filled by Mr.
Harris himself.

Within a few weeks after the negotiation of this treaty, Lord Elgin,
British commissioner to China and Japan, arrived at Shimoda with a
considerable British squadron. Mr. Harris went on board his ship, and
accompanied him to the Bay of Yedo. On the 20th of August, a treaty was
signed with the Japanese by Lord Elgin, on the basis of the American
treaty. It contained the additional provision,—of which we also have
the benefit to render the clause of our treaty giving us all privileges
bestowed on other nations,—that no export duty should be charged
higher than twenty per cent; certain articles, including cotton and
woollen goods, to be admitted at five per cent. On the 9th of October,
a similar treaty was signed with Baron Gros, who had visited Yedo as
French commissioner. Similar privileges, it is understood, are granted
to the Dutch and Russians.

With the signing of these treaties the Japanese authorities may be
considered as having yielded the point of the re-establishment of
foreign intercourse. But a great difference of opinion as to this
policy is understood still to exist among the nobles and princes of the
Empire; and it is not impossible that these concessions to foreigners
may lead to internal commotions.

By one of the articles of this new treaty, negotiated by Mr. Harris,
the Japanese agreed to send an embassy to Washington, as bearers of the
Emperor’s ratification. The fulfilment of this promise was for some
time delayed, partly, perhaps, by reason of the caution and slowness
characteristic of Japanese policy, but principally, it is supposed, on
account of the strong opposition of a large party of the princes and
nobles to the new scheme of foreign intercourse. At length, however,
on the 27th of February, 1860, the ambassadors, three in number, with
a suite of seventy-three persons, embarked on board the United States
steamer, the “Powhatan,” the American government having undertaken to
convey them to the United States, and to carry them back again. The
“Kanrin-maru,” a war steamer of two hundred and fifty tons, built for
the Japanese by the Dutch, and manned with a Japanese crew of seventy
men, arrived at San Francisco on the 14th of March, after a passage of
forty days from the Bay of Yedo, to give notice of the approach of the
ambassadors. The “Powhatan,” after touching at the Sandwich Islands,
reached Panama on the 25th of April. The ambassadors, with their
attendants, were immediately conveyed on the railroad to Aspinwall,
where, the next day, they embarked on board the U.S. steamer “Roanoke,”
lying there to receive them. The “Roanoke” sailed for New York, but
on arriving at Sandy Hook she was ordered to Norfolk, it having been
determined that the embassy should be first received at Washington. At
Norfolk the Japanese were transferred to the steamer “Philadelphia.”
They reached Washington on the 14th of May, disembarked at the Navy
Yard, and were then conveyed to quarters which had been provided for
them at Willard’s Hotel. To protect them against imposition, and to
provide for their comfort and security, three navy officers who had
visited Japan were appointed to the general oversight of the embassy
while it remained in this country. On the 14th they visited General
Cass, the Secretary of State, and on the next day had a formal audience
from the President. Though received as ministers plenipotentiary,
their powers appeared to be limited to an exchange of the ratifications
of the treaty, and to obtaining information as to the relative value
of Japanese and foreign coins,—a point which still remained unsettled
in Japan, and was the occasion of much complaint on the part of the
foreign residents.

[Illustration: THE OLD AND THE NEW: JUNKS; THE NEW BATTLESHIP _Mikasa_]

The Japanese remained in Washington till the 8th of June, spending
their time in visits to the various public buildings, and a good deal
of it in shopping, for which many of them seemed to have a great fancy.
After passing through Baltimore, where they remained one night only,
they spent a week in Philadelphia, where the Mint and its processes
were special objects of interest. From Philadelphia they went on to
New York, where they were received at the Battery by an escort of five
or six thousand men of the New York militia, and conveyed through an
immense crowd to the quarters which had been provided for them at the
Metropolitan Hotel. Here they remained for two weeks, and on the 1st of
July embarked on board the United States steam-frigate “Niagara,” to
return to Japan by the Cape of Good Hope, being thus the first of their
nation to make the circumnavigation of the globe.

The time of their stay in this country was limited by express
orders brought with them from Japan, and they declined the numerous
invitations which they received to visit other cities, and also an
excursion which the government had planned to the Falls of Niagara. The
short time they had to spend was no doubt more advantageously employed
by restricting their observations to two or three places. Of the
seventy-six persons, of which the embassy and its suite were composed,
forty-six filled the position of attendants or servants to the
remaining twenty, though some of them, directly attached to the person
of the three ambassadors, were far above the rank of ordinary menials.
The three ambassadors, though they bore the title of princes, were
understood not to belong to the small class of hereditary nobles, but
to owe their titles to the positions which they hold in the Emperor’s
service. Among the seventeen persons next in rank to the ambassadors
were a treasurer, having charge of the finances of the embassy,—though,
except as to such purchases as they made, this office was a sinecure;
a marshal, so to speak, charged with oversight and government of the
servants; several secretaries, interpreters, and doctors, and others
who might be called attachés. There was no priest or chaplain, nor any
appearance of any formal worship. The three ambassadors affected a good
deal of reserve; the others were inclined to sociability; but their
ignorance of the language, and the necessity that all communications
should undergo a double interpretation from English to Dutch, and
then into Japanese, or _vice versa_, was a great obstacle to the
communication of ideas.

In New York, besides their visits to public places and institutions,
the more curious of the Japanese were taken to visit a number of large
manufactories of various kinds, in several of which they exhibited a
good deal of interest. They made a good many purchases, and received
a good many presents, the manufacturers of various articles hoping in
this way to open a market for their wares in Japan.

Though a good deal pressed upon at times by over-curious crowds, their
reception was everywhere of the most kindly character, and can hardly
fail to leave upon them a strong impression of American good-will.

Since the negotiation of the recent treaties, a number of Americans and
Englishmen, agents of mercantile houses, have established themselves at
the open ports. A few cargoes of Japanese products have been shipped,
but the trade is still in its infancy, and the extent to which it can
be carried remains very problematical.




APPENDIX


NOTE A

(From Clement’s “Handbook of Modern Japan”)

PROVINCES BY CIRCUITS

The following list gives in detail the divisions of Japan into
Provinces (_Kuni_), according to “Circuits”:

 _Go-Kinai_ (Five Home Provinces). Yamashiro, Yamato, Kawachi, Izumi
 (or Senshiu), Settsu (or Sesshiu).

 _Tōkaidō_ (Eastern Sea Road). Iga, Ise, Shima, Owari, Mikawa, Tōtōmi,
 Suruga, Kai, Izu, Sagami, Musashi, Awa (or Bōshiu), Kazusa, Shimōsa,
 Hitachi.

 _Tōsandō_ (Eastern Mountain Road). Ōmi, Mino, Hida, Shinano (or
 Shinshiu), Kōzuke (or Jōshiu), Shimozuke, Iwaki, Iwashiro, Rikuzen,
 Rikuchū, Mutsu, Uzen, Ugo.

 _Hokurikudō_ (North Land Road). Wakasa, Echizen, Kaga, Noto, Etchū,
 Echigo, Sado Island.

 _Sanindō_ (Mountain Shade Road). Tamba, Tango, Tajima, Inaba, Hōki,
 Izumo, Iwami, Oki Islands.

 _Sanyōdō_ (Mountain Sunlight Road). Harima (or Banshiu), Mimasaka,
 Bizen, Bitchū, Bingo, Aki, Suwō, Nagata (or Chōshiu).

 _Nankaidō_ (Southern Sea Road). Kii (or Kishiu), Awaji Island, Awa,
 Sanuki, Iyo, Tosa (or Toshiu), of which the last four are in the
 island of Shikoku.

 _Saikaidō_ (Western Sea Road). Chikuzen, Chikugo, Buzen, Bungo, Hizen,
 Higo, Hyūga, Ōsumi, Satsuma (or Sasshiu), Iki Island, Tsushima Island,
 of which all except the last two are on the island of Kyūshiu.

 _Hokkaido_ (Northern Sea Road). Ōshima, Shiribeshi, Iburi, Ishikari,
 Hitaka, Tokachi, Teshio, Kushiro, Nemuro, Kitami (all on the island of
 Yezo), and Chishima, or the Kurile Islands.

 _Ryūkyū_ (Loo Choo or Lew Chew) Islands.


NOTE B

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 MURRAY: “The Story of Japan” in the “Stories of the Nations” series.

 BIRD (Miss): “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan.”

 GRIFFIS: “Japanese Fairy World”; “Japan in History, Folk-lore and
 Art”; “Honda the Samurai”; “The Religions of Japan.”

 HEARN: All his books, but especially “Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan” (2
 vols.); “Kokoro”; “Japan—An Interpretation.”

 LOWELL: “Noto, An Unexplored Corner of Japan”; “The Soul of the Far
 East.”

 NITOBE: “Bushido—The Soul of Japan.”

 GULICK: “The Evolution of the Japanese.”

 MITFORD: “Tales of Old Japan.”

 KNOX: “Japanese Life in Town and Country.”

 BACON (Miss): “Japanese Girls and Women” (illustrated edition).

 SCHERER: “Young Japan.”

 KNAPP: “Feudal and Modern Japan.”

 SHIGEMI: “A Japanese Boy.”

 BRAMHALL (Mrs.): “The Wee Ones of Japan.”

 CHAPLIN-AYRTON (Mrs.): “Child Life in Japan.”

 RIORDAN and TAKAYANAGI: “Sunrise Stories.”

 OZAKI (Miss): “The Japanese Fairy World.”

 MORSE: “Japanese Homes.”

 HARTSHORNE (Miss): “Japan and her People” (2 vols.).

[Illustration: NIHOMBASHI, TŌKYŌ]

 REED: “Japan” (2 vols.).

 DICKSON: “Japan.”

 ASTON: “History of Japanese Literature.”

 CHAMBERLAIN: “Classical Poetry of the Japanese.”

 MCCLATCHIE: “Japanese Plays.”

 MACLAY: “Mito Yashiki.”

 KITCHIN: “Parli, the Last of the Missionaries.”

 GRUY: “A Captive of Love.”

 SUYEMATSU: “Genji Monogatari.”

 PURCELL: “A Suburb of Yedo.”

 HARRIS (Mrs.): “Log of a Japanese Journey.”

 DICKINS: “Chiushingura, the Loyal League.”

 ASAKAWA: “Early Institutional Life of Japan.”

 MACKAY: “From Far Formosa.”

 CAMPBELL: “Formosa under the Dutch.”

 DAVIDSON: “The Island of Formosa.”

 BATCHELOR: “The Ainu of Japan”; “The Ainu and their Folk-lore.”

 KINOS[H]ITA: “The Past and Present of Japanese Commerce.”

 HUISH: “Japan and its Art.”

 REGAMEY: “Japan in Art and Industry.”

 OKAKURA: “The Ideals of the East.”

 DRESSER: “Japan, Its Architecture, Art and Art Manufactures.”

 JARVES: “A Glimpse at the Art of Japan.”

 HARTMAN: “Japanese Art.”

 DICK: “Arts and Crafts of Old Japan.”

 ANDERSON: “The Pictorial Arts of Japan.”

 AUDSLEY and BOWES: “Keramic Art of Japan.”

 ALCOCK: “The Capital of the Tycoon” (2 vols.).

 ADAMS: “History of Japan” (2 vols.).

 BLACK: “Young Japan” (2 vols.).

 DIXON: “The Land of the Morning.”

 MOSSMAN: “New Japan.”

 HECR: “The Narrative of a Japanese” (2 vols.).

 OFFICIAL: “History of the Empire of Japan”; “Japanese Education.”
 “Kojiki,”—English version by Chamberlain, Vol. X, Appendix, of the
 “Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.”


NOTE C

USE OF FIRE-ARMS IN THE EAST

Even the inhabitants of southern India, notwithstanding the long
intercourse carried on with them by Arab traders from the Persian Gulf
and the Red Sea, and the invasions of their country by Mahometans
from the north, seem to have been mainly indebted for their first
possession of fire-arms to Europeans; as witness the following extract
from Rickard Eden’s translation, first published in 1576, of the
“Navigations and Voyages of Lewis Vertomanus, Gentleman, of the city
of Rome, to the Regions of Arabia, Egypt, Persia, Syria, Ethiopia, and
East India, both within and without the river Ganges, &c., in the year
of our Lord, 1503,” contemporary, that is, with the earliest Portuguese
expeditions: “Entering into the city of Calicut, we found there two
Christians, born in the city of Milan; the one named John Maria, the
other Peter Antonio. These were jewellers, and came from Portugal with
the king’s license to buy precious stones. When I had found these men
I rejoiced more than I am able to express. At our first meeting them,
seeing to be white men (for we went naked, after the manner of the
inhabitants), I asked them if they were Christians. They said yea. Then
said I that I was also a Christian, by the grace of God. Then, taking
me by my hand, they brought me to their house, where, for joy of our
meeting, we could scarcely satisfy ourselves with tears, embracing and
kissing; for it seemed now to me a strange thing to hear men speak
mine own language, or to speak it myself. Shortly after, I asked them
if they were in favor with the king of Calicut. We are, said they, in
great favor with him, and very familiar. Then again I asked them what
they were minded to do. We desire, said they, to return to our country,
but we know not the means how. Then, said I, return the same way that
you came. Nay, said they, that may not be; for we are fled from the
Portugals, because we have made many pieces of great ordinance and
other guns for the king of Calicut, and therefore we have good cause to
fear; and now especially, for that the navy of Portugal will shortly
be here. I answered that if I might escape to the city of Canonor, I
doubted not but that I would get their pardon of the governor of the
navy. There is small hope of mercy, said they, we are so famous and
well known to many other kings in the way, which favor the Portugals,
and lay wait to take us. In which their talk I perceived how fearful a
thing is a guilty conscience, and called to remembrance the saying of
the poet:

  ‘Multa male timeo, qui feci multa proterve.’

That is, ‘I fear much evil because I have done much evil.’ For they had
not only made many such pieces of artillery for the infidels, to the
great damage of Christians, and contempt of the holy name of Christ and
his religion, but had also taught the idolaters both the making and
use of them; and at my being there I saw them give a model or mould
to certain idolaters, whereby they might make brazen pieces, of such
bigness that one of them may receive the charge of a hundred and five
tankards (cantoros) of powder. At the same time, also, there was a
Jew, which had made a very fair brigantine, and four great pieces of
artillery of iron. But God shortly afterwards gave him his due reward;
for, when he went to wash him in the river, he was drowned.”

Nor did the two Christians escape much better. The Portuguese commander
agreed to pardon them; but, in attempting to escape to him, they were
killed. Maffei, in his Indian History, refers to the aid which the
native princes derived from these and other Christian renegadoes.


NOTE D

FERNAM MENDEZ PINTO

The ill fortune of which Pinto complained as having pursued him
through life did not spare him even after he was laid in the grave,
the narrative of his adventures which he left behind him having been
assailed by the wits and critics with hardly less ferocity than
poor Pinto himself was while alive by the corsairs, infidels, and
barbarians, with whom he came in contact. He is indeed chiefly known
to English readers by an ill-natured fling of Congreve, who, in his
“Love for Love,” makes one of his characters address another in those
oft-quoted words: “Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou
liar of the first magnitude!” It is said also that Cervantes, three or
four years before whose death Pinto’s book was published, speaks of him
somewhere as the “prince of liars.” I have not been able to find the
passage; but likely enough Cervantes might have been a little vexed to
find his “Persiles and Sigismunda,” a romance, under the guise of a
book of travels, first published about the time with Pinto’s book, so
much outdone by what claimed to be a true narrative of real adventures.

As Pinto, however, in spite of all his ill luck, found, in writing his
memoirs, some topics of consolation, so also his character as an author
and a narrator has by no means been left entirely in the lurch. Though
little read now, he has enjoyed, in his day, a popularity such as few
authors attain to. To the first edition of his “Peregrinations,” in
the original Portuguese, succeeded others in 1678, 1711, and 1725; and
second, third, and fourth editions are compliments which Portugal very
rarely pays to her authors. A Spanish translation appeared at Madrid
in 1620, in which, however, great and very unwarrantable liberties
were taken by the translator. A French translation was published at
Paris in 1628, and an English translation in 1663. To the Spanish and
French translations defences of Pinto’s veracity are prefixed, and both
passed through several editions. Purchas, who gives a synopsis of that
part of Pinto’s book relating to China and Japan, strongly defends
his credibility, observing that he little spares his own company and
nation, but often and eagerly lays open their vices. “I find in him,”
says Purchas, “little boasting, except of other nations, none at all of
himself, but as if he intended to express God’s glory, and man’s merit
of nothing but misery. And, however it seems incredible to remember
such infinite particulars as this book is full of, yet an easy memory
holdeth strong impressions of good and bad, especially new-whetted,
filed, furbushed, with so many companions in misery, their best music
in their chains and wanderings being the mutual recounting of things
seen, done, and suffered. More marvel is it, if a liar, that he should
not forget himself and contradict his own relations.

“I would not have an author rejected for fit speeches framed by the
writer, in which many historians have taken liberty; nor if sometimes
he doth _mendacia dicere_ (say false things), so as that he doth not
_mentiri_ (lie); as I will not sware but of himself he might mistake,
and by others be misled. The Chinese might, in relating their rarities
to him, enlarge and _de magnis majora loqui_ (exaggerate things really
great), so as he still might be religious in a just and true delivery
of what himself hath seen, and belei not his own eyes.... All China
authors, how diversified in their lines, yet all concur in a certain
centre of _Admiranda Sinarum_ (admirable things of the Chinese)[131],
which if others have not so largely related as this, they may thank
God they paid not so dear a price to see them; and, for me, I will
rather believe, where reason evicts not, _ejectione firma_ (with a firm
ejection), than seek to see at the author’s rate; and if he hath robbed
the altars of truth, as he did those of the Calumplay idols, yet, in
Pekin equity, we will not cut off his thumbs (according to Nanquin
rigor), upon bare surmise, without any evidence against him.”

The countries in which Pinto’s adventures chiefly lay, still remain,
for the most part, very little known; but the more they have been
explored, the more has the general correctness of Pinto’s statements
been admitted. The editor of the great French collection, “Annales des
Voyages,” who gives a full abstract of Pinto, remarks that, having had
occasion, in preparing the volume of that work on China, to consult
all accessible works about that country, he had been more and more
confirmed in his opinion of the reality of Pinto’s adventures and
the general correctness of his memory. Rémusat, the eminent Chinese
scholar, cites Pinto as good authority for facts, and it was, I
believe, by his procurement, or that of the “Société Asiatique,” that
the French translation of his travels was reprinted at Paris in 1830.


NOTE E

EARLIEST ENGLISH AND DUTCH ADVENTURERS IN THE EAST—GOA

Prior to the first Dutch and English India voyages, both Englishmen and
Dutchmen had reached India, some by way of Lisbon and the Cape of Good
Hope, others over land. Pinto speaks of Christians of various nations
as among the adventurers with whom he acted. Hackluyt gives (Vol. II)
a letter written by Thomas Stevens, an English Jesuit, dated in 1579,
at Goa, which he had reached by way of Lisbon and the Cape of Good
Hope. This curious letter was addressed by Stevens, who was attached
to that very seminary of St. Paul (or the Holy Faith), of which we
have had occasion to make mention, to his father in England. Hackluyt
also gives in the same volume some very interesting memorials of the
adventures of John Newbury, who, attended by Ralph Fitch, Story, a
painter, Leeds, a jeweller, and others, was sent over land in 1583,
simultaneously with the first English attempts at exploration and
settlement in North America, by some London merchants of the Turkey
company, as bearer of letters from Queen Elizabeth to Zelabdim Echabar,
king of Cambia (Ackbar, the Great Mogul) and to the king of China—both
which letters, proposing trade and commerce, Hackluyt gives at length.
Newbury proceeded by way of Ormus, which he had visited before, and
where he found merchants of almost all nations, not Portuguese only,
but Frenchmen, Flemings, Germans, Hungarians, Greeks, Armenians, Turks,
Arabs, Jews, Persians, Muscovites, and especially Italians, who seem
by this time to have recovered a great share of the trade to the East.
By one of these Italians Newbury and his company were accused as spies
of Don Antonio (the claimant as against Philip II, of the Portuguese
throne, and at that time a refugee in England). The fact also that
Drake, in his recent voyage round the world, had, while at the
Moluccas, fired two shots at a Portuguese galleon, was alleged against
them. They were sent prisoners to the viceroy at Goa; but, by the good
offices of the English Jesuit, Stevens, above-mentioned, and of John
Huigen Van Linschoten, a Dutchman in the service of the archbishop,
they were released on giving sureties not to depart without leave of
the viceroy, which sureties they procured by placing goods in the hands
of certain parties who became bound for them.

Story, the painter, had indeed previously procured his discharge
by joining the Jesuits of St. Paul, where he was admitted as a
probationer, and was employed in painting the church. The others,
finding that the viceroy would not discharge their sureties, left
secretly, or, as Fitch expresses it, “ran from thence,” April, 1585,
and, passing to Golconda, travelled north to Agra, then the capital of
the Great Mogul. Here Leeds, the jeweller, entered into the Mogul’s
service, who gave him “a house, five slaves, and every day six S. S.
(qu. sequins?) in money.” Newbury went from Agra to Lahore, expecting
to go thence to Persia, and, by way of Aleppo and Constantinople,
to reach England; and he sent Fitch meanwhile to Bengal and Pegu,
promising to meet him in Bengal in two years in a ship from England.
Fitch passed on to Benares, and thence to Bengal, and November 28,
1586, sailed for Pegu, whence the next year he proceeded to Malacca.
Returning again, in 1588, to Pegu, he went thence to Bengal in the
following November; whence, in February, 1589, he took shipping for
Cochin, touching at Ceylon on the way, a “brave island,” where he
spent five days. At Cochin he stayed eight months before he could get
a passage to Goa. From Goa he proceeded to Ormus, whence, by way of
Basora, Mosul, and Aleppo, he reached England April 29, 1591.

Linschoten, mentioned above, who had arrived at Goa in 1583, from
Lisbon, as one of the archbishop’s suite, returned to Holland in 1589,
where he published his travels in 1595,—the first Dutch account of the
East. From him we learn that Story, the painter, after the departure
of his companions, grew sick of the cloister of St. Paul, and, as he
had not yet taken the vows, left and set up as a painter in Goa, where
he had abundant employment, and, “in the end, married a mestizo’s
daughter of the town, so that he made his account to stay there while
he lived,”—the first permanent English resident in Hindoostan.

[Illustration: A MODERN STREET SCENE IN TŌKYŌ]

There is in the “Asiatic Journal,” for December, 1838, a very striking
description of the present ruinous state of the once splendid and
magnificent city of Goa. It has been abandoned for Pongi, now known
as New Goa, six miles nearer the sea, and the present seat of the
shrunken Portuguese viceroyalty. The only inhabitants of Old Goa are a
few hundred monks, nuns, and their attendants, attached to the splendid
churches and monasteries still standing, among which towers conspicuous
the church of the Jesuits, in a beautiful chapel attached to which is
the monument of St. Francis Xavier. His body, removed thither from
the college of St. Paul, in which it was first placed, reposes upon a
sarcophagus or bier of Italian marble, faced with bronzes, representing
his missionary labors, and enclosed in a shrine of brass and silver.
It is alleged still to be in as good preservation as ever, and is
occasionally exhibited in public. The last of these exhibitions was in
1783.


NOTE F

JAPANESE DARING AND ADVENTURE EXTERIOR TO THE LIMITS OF JAPAN

The same Davis who had been Houtman’s pilot in the first voyage to the
East Indies sailed from England in 1604, as master of the “Tiger,” a
ship of two hundred and forty tons. While on her course from Bantam to
Batavia, the “Tiger” encountered a little junk of seventy tons, with
ninety Japanese on board, “most of them in too gallant a habit for
sailors.” They had left home, as it turned out, in a larger vessel,
which had been “pirating along the coast of China and Cambodia,”—much
the same business, by the way, in which the “Tiger” was herself
engaged,—but, having lost their vessel by shipwreck, they had seized
upon this little junk, laden with rice, and were trying to reach
Japan in it. In hopes to get some information out of them, they were
entertained for two days with “gifts and feasting”; but, at the same
time, their junk was searched for treasure which might be concealed
under the rice. While part of the “Tiger’s” men were employed in this
search, the Japanese made a desperate attempt to get possession of
that ship. Davis himself was killed in the first surprise, but the
Japanese were finally forced into the cabin, where, by breaking down a
bulkhead, some of the ship’s guns, loaded with bullets and case shot,
were brought to bear upon them. They disdained to ask quarter, and
all perished from effects of the shot except one, who jumped into the
sea. The narrative of this affair, given by Purchas (Pilg., Part 1, p.
137), and apparently written by an officer of the “Tiger,” winds up as
follows: “The Japanese are not suffered to land in any port of India
with weapons, being accounted a people so desperate and daring that
they are feared in all places where they come.”

In conformity to this character of the Japanese is the account given by
Floris, cape merchant of the “Globe,” an English ship, which touched
at Siam in 1612, while performing the voyage mentioned Vol. I, p. 207
of the text. A short time previously, two hundred and eighty Japanese,
the slave-soldiers of a principal Siamese noble, who had been put to
death by the royal authority, had revenged their master by seizing on
the king of Siam, whom they compelled to subscribe to such terms as
they dictated, “after which, they had departed with great treasure, the
Siamese not being able to right themselves.”[132]

The good service rendered to the Portuguese by Japanese mercenaries
at the siege of Malacca, in 1606, is mentioned in the text, Vol. I,
p. 182. It appears, from a curious tract concerning the Philippines,
preserved by Thevenot, that when De Silva, governor of those islands,
undertook, in 1608, to drive the Dutch from the Moluccas, he was
obliged to send to Japan for saltpetre, metal, and even for founders to
cast cannon. A body of Japanese formed, in 1619, a part of the Dutch
garrison in their fort at Jacatara (named about that time Batavia),
while besieged by the natives on the island, and blockaded at the same
time by an English squadron, as mentioned Vol. I, p. 237 of the text.
Of the Japanese settled on the island of Amboyna, and involved with
the English in the massacre there, mention is made Vol. I, p. 240.
Haganaar, who was at Cambodia in 1637, found among the inhabitants of
that city seventy or eighty families of Japanese, whom he describes as
not daring to return to their own country, with which, however, they
carried on trade, by means of Chinese ships. They were in great favor
with the king of Cambodia, to whom they had rendered valiant assistance
in suppressing a dangerous rebellion, and were greatly feared by the
other inhabitants of the city, whether Chinese or Malays. To this
day one of the channels of the great river of Cambodia is known as
“Japanese river”—a name given, indeed, on some maps, to the main river
itself, and probably taking its origin from this Japanese colony.

The conquest of the Lew Chew [Riūkiū] Islands, by the king of Satsuma,
took place about 1610; and, much about the same time, some Japanese
made an establishment on the island of Formosa, for the purpose of
trading with the Chinese; but in this they were soon superseded by the
Dutch. The narrative of Nuyts’ affair, as given in the text (Vol. I,
p. 252), is derived from a detailed account appended in “Voyages au
Nord,” Tom. IV., to Caron’s Memoir, addressed to Colbert, on opening
an intercourse with Japan; but, from a paper embodied in the Voyage
of Rechteren (“Voyages des Indes,” Tom. V.), and written, apparently,
in 1632, by a person on the spot, it would appear that the conduct of
Nuyts, instead of being prompted by personal antipathy, was merely an
attempt to exclude the Japanese from the trade with the Chinese, and to
engross it for the Dutch East India Company; “a desire good in itself,”
so this writer observes, “but which should have been pursued with
greater precaution and prudence.”

In the Chinese writings, the Japanese figure as daring pirates; but, as
the appellation bestowed on them is equally applied to other eastern
and southeastern islanders, it is not so easy to say to whose credit or
discredit the exploits referred to by these Chinese writers actually
belong.


NOTE G

(From Clement’s “Handbook of Modern Japan”)

LIST OF JAPANESE YEAR PERIODS[1]

The names of these periods are made by the various combinations of 68
Chinese words of good omen.

  ────────────────────────┬───────────┬───────────
  NAME.                   │ JAPANESE  │ CHRISTIAN
                          │  ERA.[2]  │   ERA.
                          ├───────────┼───────────
  Taikwa                  │   1305    │   645
  Hakuchi                 │   1310    │   650
  (Blank)                 │ 1315-1331 │ 655-671
  Sujaku                  │   1332    │   672
  Hakuhō                  │   1332    │   672
  Shuchō                  │   1346    │   686
  (Blank)                 │ 1347-1360 │ 687-700
  Daihō [Taihō]           │   1361    │   701
  Keiun                   │   1364    │   704
  Wadō                    │   1368    │   708
  Reiki                   │   1375    │   715
  Yōrō                    │   1377    │   717
  Jinki                   │   1384    │   724
  Tembiō                  │   1389    │   729
  Tembiō shōhō            │   1409    │   749
  Tembiō hoji             │   1417    │   757
  Tembiō jingo            │   1425    │   765
  Jingō keiun             │   1427    │   767
  Hōki                    │   1430    │   770
  Tenō                    │   1441    │   781
  Enriaku                 │   1442    │   782
  Daidō                   │   1466    │   806
  Kōnin                   │   1470    │   810
  Tenchō                  │   1484    │   824
  Jōwa                    │   1494    │   834
  Kajō                    │   1508    │   848
  Ninju                   │   1511    │   851
  Saikō                   │   1514    │   854
  Ten-an                  │   1517    │   857
  Jōgwan                  │   1519    │   859
  Gwangiō                 │   1537    │   877
  Ninna                   │   1545    │   885
  Kwampei                 │   1549    │   889
  Shōtai                  │   1558    │   898
  Engi                    │   1561    │   901
  Enchō                   │   1583    │   923
  Jōhei                   │   1591    │   931
  Tengiō                  │   1598    │   938
  Tenriaku                │   1607    │   947
  Tentoku                 │   1617    │   957
  Owa                     │   1621    │   961
  Kōhō                    │   1624    │   964
  Anna                    │   1628    │   968
  Tenroku                 │   1630    │   970
  Ten-en                  │   1633    │   973
  Jōgen                   │   1636    │   976
  Tengen                  │   1638    │   978
  Eikwan                  │   1643    │   983
  Kwanna                  │   1645    │   985
  Eien                    │   1647    │   987
  Eiso                    │   1649    │   989
  Shōriaku                │   1650    │   990
  Chōtoku                 │   1655    │   995
  Chōhō                   │   1659    │   999
  Kwankō                  │   1664    │  1004
  Chōwa                   │   1672    │  1012
  Kwannin                 │   1677    │  1017
  Ji-an                   │   1681    │  1021
  Manjū                   │   1684    │  1024
  Chōgen                  │   1688    │  1028
  Chōriaku                │   1697    │  1037
  Chōkiū                  │   1700    │  1040
  Kwantoku                │   1704    │  1044
  Eijō                    │   1706    │  1046
  Tengi                   │   1713    │  1053
  Kōhei                   │   1718    │  1058
  Jiriaku                 │   1725    │  1065
  Enkiū                   │   1729    │  1069
  Jōhō                    │   1734    │  1074
  Jōriaku                 │   1737    │  1077
  Eiho                    │   1741    │  1081
  Ōtoku                   │   1744    │  1084
  Kwanji                  │   1747    │  1087
  Kahō                    │   1754    │  1094
  Eichō                   │   1756    │  1096
  Jōtoku                  │   1757    │  1097
  Kōwa                    │   1759    │  1099
  Chōji                   │   1764    │  1104
  Kajō                    │   1766    │  1106
  Tennin                  │   1768    │  1108
  Ten-ei                  │   1770    │  1110
  Eikiū                   │   1773    │  1113
  Gen-ei                  │   1778    │  1118
  Hōan                    │   1780    │  1120

[Note 1: From official sources.]

[Note 2: Beginning 660 B. C.]

  Tenji                   │   1784    │  1124
  Daiji                   │   1786    │  1126
  Tenjō                   │   1791    │  1131
  Chōjō                   │   1792    │  1132
  Hōen                    │   1795    │  1135
  Eiji                    │   1801    │  1141
  Kōji                    │   1802    │  1142
  Ten-yō                  │   1804    │  1144
  Kiū-an                  │   1805    │  1145
  Nimbiō                  │   1811    │  1151
  Kiūju                   │   1814    │  1154
  Hōgen                   │   1816    │  1156
  Heiji                   │   1819    │  1159
  Eiriaku                 │   1820    │  1160
  Ōhō                     │   1821    │  1161
  Chōkwan                 │   1823    │  1163
  Eiman                   │   1825    │  1165
  Nin-an                  │   1826    │  1166
  Ka-o                    │   1829    │  1169
  Jō-an                   │   1831    │  1171
  Angen                   │   1835    │  1175
  Jishō                   │   1837    │  1177
  Yōwa                    │   1841    │  1181
  Ju-ei                   │   1842    │  1182
  Genriaku                │   1844    │  1184
  Bunji                   │   1845    │  1185
  Kenkiū                  │   1850    │  1190
  Shōji                   │   1859    │  1199
  Kennin                  │   1861    │  1201
  Genkiū                  │   1864    │  1204
  Ken-ei                  │   1866    │  1206
  Jōgen                   │   1867    │  1207
  Kenriaku                │   1871    │  1211
  Kempō                   │   1873    │  1213
  Jōkiū                   │   1879    │  1219
  Jō-ō                    │   1882    │  1222
  Gennin                  │   1884    │  1224
  Karoku                  │   1885    │  1225
  Antei                   │   1887    │  1227
  Kwangi                  │   1889    │  1229
  Jō-ei                   │   1892    │  1232
  Tempuku                 │   1893    │  1233
  Bunriaku                │   1894    │  1234
  Katei                   │   1895    │  1235
  Riakunin                │   1898    │  1238
  En-o                    │   1899    │  1239
  Ninji                   │   1900    │  1240
  Kwangen                 │   1903    │  1243
  Hōji                    │   1907    │  1247
  Kenchō                  │   1909    │  1249
  Kōgen                   │   1916    │  1256
  Shōka                   │   1917    │  1257
  Shōgen                  │   1919    │  1259
  Bun-ō                   │   1920    │  1260
  Kōchō                   │   1921    │  1261
  Bun-ei                  │   1924    │  1264
  Kenji                   │   1935    │  1275
  Kōan                    │   1938    │  1278
  Shō-ō                   │   1948    │  1288
  Einin                   │   1953    │  1293
  Shōan                   │   1959    │  1299
  Kengen                  │   1962    │  1302
  Kagen                   │   1963    │  1303
  Tokuji                  │   1966    │  1306
  Enkiō                   │   1968    │  1308
  Ōchō                    │   1971    │  1311
  Shōwa                   │   1972    │  1312
  Bumpō                   │   1977    │  1317
  Gen-ō                   │   1979    │  1319
  Genkō                   │   1981    │  1321
  Shōchū                  │   1984    │  1324
  Kariaku                 │   1986    │  1326
  Gentoku                 │   1989    │  1329
  Shōkiō [Genkō]          │   1992    │  1332
  Kemmu                   │   1994    │  1334
  Rekiō                   │   1998    │  1338[1]
  Kōei                    │   2002    │  1342[1]
  Jōwa                    │   2005    │  1345[1]
  Kwan-ō                  │   2010    │  1350[1]
  Bunna                   │   2012    │  1352[1]
  Embun                   │   2016    │  1356[1]
  Kōan                    │   2021    │  1361[1]
  Jōji                    │   2022    │  1362[1]
  Ōan                     │   2028    │  1368[1]
  Eiwa                    │   2035    │  1375[1]
  Kōreki                  │   2039    │  1379[1]
  Eitoku                  │   2041    │  1381[1]
  Shitoku                 │   2044    │  1384[1]
  Kakei                   │   2047    │  1387[1]
  Koō                     │   2049    │  1389[1]
  Engen                   │   1996    │  1336[2]
  Kōkoku                  │   1999    │  1339[2]

 [Note 1: Northern Dynasty,]

 [Note 2: Southern Dynasty.]

  Shōhei                  │   2006    │  1346[1]
  Kentoku                 │   2030    │  1370[1]
  Bunchū                  │   2032    │  1372[1]
  Tenju                   │   2035    │  1375[1]
  Kōwa                    │   2041    │  1381[1]
  Genchū                  │   2044    │  1384[1]
  Meitoku                 │   2050    │  1390
  O-ei                    │   2054    │  1394
  Shōchō                  │   2088    │  1428
  Eikiō                   │   2089    │  1429
  Kakitsu                 │   2101    │  1441
  Bun-an                  │   2104    │  1444
  Hōtoku                  │   2109    │  1449
  Kōtoku                  │   2112    │  1452
  Kōshō                   │   2115    │  1455
  Chōroku                 │   2117    │  1457
  Kwanshō                 │   2120    │  1460
  Bunshō                  │   2126    │  1466
  Ō-nin                   │   2127    │  1467
  Bummei                  │   2129    │  1469
  Chōko                   │   2147    │  1487
  Entoku                  │   2149    │  1489
  Mei-ō                   │   2152    │  1492
  Bunki                   │   2161    │  1501
  Eishō                   │   2164    │  1504
  Dai-ei                  │   2181    │  1521
  Kōroku                  │   2188    │  1528
  Tembun                  │   2192    │  1532
  Kōji                    │   2215    │  1555
  Eiroku                  │   2218    │  1558
  Genki                   │   2230    │  1570
  Tenshō                  │   2233    │  1573
  Bunroku                 │   2252    │  1592
  Keichō                  │   2256    │  1596
  Genna                   │   2275    │  1615
  Kwan-ei                 │   2284    │  1624
  Shōhō                   │   2304    │  1644
  Kei-an                  │   2308    │  1648
  Jō-ō                    │   2312    │  1652
  Meireki                 │   2315    │  1655
  Manji                   │   2318    │  1658
  Kwambun                 │   2321    │  1661
  Empō                    │   2333    │  1673
  Tenna                   │   2341    │  1681
  Jōkiō                   │   2344    │  1684
  Genroku                 │   2348    │  1688
  Hō-ei                   │   2364    │  1704
  Shōtoku                 │   2371    │  1711
  Kiōhō                   │   2376    │  1716
  Gembun                  │   2396    │  1736
  Kwampō                  │   2401    │  1741
  Enkiō                   │   2404    │  1744
  Kwan-en                 │   2408    │  1748
  Hōreki                  │   2411    │  1751
  Meiwa                   │   2424    │  1764
  An-ei                   │   2432    │  1772
  Temmei                  │   2441    │  1781
  Kwansei                 │   2449    │  1789
  Kiōwa                   │   2461    │  1801
  Bunkwa                  │   2464    │  1804
  Bunsei                  │   2478    │  1818
  Tempō                   │   2490    │  1830
  Kōkwa                   │   2504    │  1844
  Ka-ei                   │   2508    │  1848
  Ansei                   │   2514    │  1854
  Man-en                  │   2520    │  1860
  Bunkiū                  │   2521    │  1861
  Genji                   │   2524    │  1864
  Kei-ō                   │   2525    │  1865
  Meiji                   │   2528    │  1868
  ────────────────────────┴───────────┴───────

  [Note 1: Southern Dynasty.]


NOTE H

(From Clement’s “Handbook of Modern Japan”)

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF EMPERORS AND EMPRESSES[1]

  1. Jimmu (660-585 B.C.)

  2. Suizei (581-549)

  3. Annei (548-511)

  4. Itoku (510-477)

  5. Kōshō (475-393)

  6. Kōan (392-291)

  7. Kōrei (290-215)

  8. Kōgen (214-158)

  9. Kaikwa (157-98)

  10. Sujin (97-30)

  11. Suinin (29 B.C.-70 A.D.)

  12. Keikō (71-130 A.D.)

  13. Seimu (131-190)

  14. Chūai (192-200)

  [15. _Jingō_[1] (201-269)]

  16. Ōjin (270-310)

  17. Nintoku (313-399)

  18. Richū (400-405)

  19. Hanzei (406-411)

  20. Ingyō (412-453)

  21. Ankō (454-456)

  22. Yūryaku (457-479)

  23. Seinei (480-484)

  24. Kensō (485-487)

  25. Ninken (488-498)

  26. Muretsu (499-506)

  27. Keitai (507-531)

  28. Ankan (534-535)

  29. Senkwa (536-539)

  30. Kimmei (540-571)

  31. Bidatsu (572-585)

  32. Yōmei (586-587)

  33. Sujun (588-592)

  34. _Suiko_ (593-628)

  35. Jomei (629-641)

  36. _Kōgyoku_ (642-645)

  37. Kōtoku (645-654)

  38. _Saimei_ (655-661)

  39. Tenchi (668-671)

  40. Kōbun (672)

  41. Temmu (673-686)

  42. _Jitō_ (690-696)

  43. Mommu (697-707)

  44. _Gemmyō_ (708-715)

  45. _Genshō_ (715-723)

  46. Shōmu (724-748)

  47. _Kōken_ (749-758)

  48. Junnin (758-764)

  49. _Shōtoku_ (765-770)

  50. Kōnin (770-781)

  51. Kwammu (782-806)

  52. Heizei (806-809)

  53. Saga (810-823)

  54. Junna (824-833)

  55. Nimmyō (834-850)

  56. Montoku (851-858)

  57. Seiwa (859-876)

  58. Yōzei (877-884)

  59. Kōkō (885-887)

  60. Uda (888-897)

  61. Daigo (898-930)

  62. Shujaku (931-946)

  63. Murakami (947-967)

  64. Reizei (968-969)

  65. Enyu (970-984)

  66. Kwazan (985-986)

  67. Ichijō (987-1011)

  68. Sanjō (1012-1016)

  69. Go-Ichijō{1} (1017-1036)

  70. Go-Shujaku (1037-1045)

  71. Go-Reizei (1046-1068)

  72. Go-Sanjō (1069-1073)

  73. Shirakawa (1073-1086)

  74. Horikawa (1087-1107)

  75. Toba (1108-1123)

  76. Shutoku (1124-1141)

  77. Konoye (1142-1155)

  78. Go-Shirakawa (1156-1158)

  79. Nijō (1159-1165)

  80. Rokujō (1166-1168)

  81. Takakura (1169-1180)

  82. Antoku (1181-1185)

  83. Go-Toba (1186-1198)

  84. Tsuchimikado (1199-1210)

  85. Juntoku (1211-1221)

  86. Chūkyō (1222)

  87. Go-Horikawa (1222-1232)

  88. Shijō (1233-1242)

  89. Go-Saga (1243-1246)

  90. Go-Fukakusa (1247-1259)

  91. Kameyama (1260-1274)

  92. Go-Uda (1275-1287)

  93. Fushimi (1288-1298)

  94. Go-Fushimi (1299-1301)

  95. Go-Nijo (1302-1307)

  96. Hanazono (1308-1318)

  97. Go-Daigo (1319-1338)

  98. Go-Murakami (1339-1367)

  [99. Chōkei (1368-1383)]

  100. Go-Kameyama (1383-1392)

  101. Go-Komatsu (1392-1412)

  102. Shōkō (1413-1428)

  103. Go-Hanazono (1429-1464)

  104. Go-Tsuchimikado (1465-1500)

  105. Go-Kashiwabara (1501-1526)

  106. Go-Nara (1527-1557)

  107. Ōgimachi (1558-1586)

  108. Go-Yōzei (1587-1611)

  109. Go-Mizuno-o (1612-1629)

  110. _Myōshō_ (1630-1643)

  111. Go-Kōmyō (1644-1654)

  112. Go-Saiin (1655-1663)

  113. Reignen (1663-1686)

  114. Higashiyama (1687-1709)

  115. Nakano-mikado (1710-1735)

  116. Sakuramachi (1736-1746)

  117. Momozono (1747-1762)

  118. _Go-Sakuramachi_ (1763-1770)

  119. Go-Momozono (1771-1779)

  120. Kōkaku (1780-1817)

  121. Ninkō (1817-1846)

  122. Kōmei (1847-1867)

  123. Mutsuhito (1867-  )

N. B.—Nos. 36 and 38 were the same empress; likewise Nos. 47 and 49.
   Note 1: Empresses in Italics. Bracketed names (Nos. 15 and 99) are
omitted from some lists.


We append also a list of the sovereigns of the “Northern Court” during
the separation, as follows:

  1. Kōgon (1332-1335)

  2. Kōmyō (1336-1348)

  3. Shukō (1349-1352)

  4. Go-Kōgon (1352-1371)

  5. Go-Enyu (1372-1382)

  6. Go-Komatsu (1383-1392)

In 1392 Go-Komatsu became emperor over the reunited empire.

[1: _Go_ is a prefix signifying the second of the name.]


NOTE I

OMITTED DOCUMENTS


I. Letter of the Emperor Iyeyasu (Ōgosho-Sama) to the king of
England—(James I.).[133]

 “Your majesty’s kind letter, sent me by your servant, Captain John
 Saris (who is the first that I have known to arrive in any part
 of my dominions), I heartily embrace, being not a little glad to
 understand of your great wisdom and power, as having three plentiful
 and mighty kingdoms under your powerful command. I acknowledge your
 majesty’s great bounty in sending me so undeserved a present of many
 rare things, such as my land affordeth not, neither have I ever
 before seen; which I receive not as from a stranger, but as from
 your majesty, whom I esteem as myself. Desiring the continuance of
 friendship with your highness, and that it may stand with your good
 liking to send your subjects to any part or port of my dominions,
 where they shall be most heartily welcome, applauding much their
 worthiness, in the admirable knowledge of navigation, having with much
 facility discovered a country so remote, being no whit amazed with the
 distance of so mighty a gulf, nor greatness of such infinite clouds
 and storms from prosecuting honorable enterprises of discoveries and
 merchandising, wherein they shall find me to further them according
 to their desires. I return unto your majesty a small token of my love
 (by your said subject), desiring you to accept thereof as from one
 that much rejoiceth in your friendship. And whereas your majesty’s
 subjects have desired certain privileges for trade and settling of a
 factory in my dominions, I have not only granted what they demanded,
 but have confirmed the same unto them under my broad seal, for better
 establishing thereof. From my castle in Suruga, this fourth day of
 the ninth month, in the eighteenth year of our Dairi, according to our
 computation. Resting your majesty’s friend, the highest commander in
 the kingdom of Japan:

  “[Signed]

  MINNA. MONTONO YER. YE. YEAS

  [MINAMOTO-NO-IYEYASU].”


II. An ordinance of the Emperor of Japan sent to all the governors of
the maritime districts to prevent the landing of Portuguese:[134]

 “The express and reiterated commandments against the promulgation of
 the religion and doctrine of the Christians have been duly published
 and everywhere proclaimed; but it being found that these edicts
 were not efficacious, they (that is, the Christians) were forbidden
 to approach the coasts of Japan with their galliots and other sea
 vessels; and some of them, in contempt of this prohibition, having
 come to Nagasaki, orders were given, in punishment of this offence,
 to put them to death. It was commanded, last year, by a special
 edict, that in case any sea vessel were seen on the coasts of Japan
 or entered any port, it might be permitted to anchor, with a strong
 guard on board, till what they proposed was sent to the emperor. This
 commandment is now revoked; and it is ordered instead that these
 vessels (that is, Portuguese and Spanish vessels), without hearing a
 word which those on board have to say, shall be destroyed and burnt,
 whatever pretence they may set up, and all their crews to the last man
 be put to death.

 “It is also commanded to erect watch-towers on the mountains and all
 along the coast, and to keep constant watch to discover Portuguese
 vessels, so that news of their arrival may at once be spread
 everywhere; and if such a vessel shall first be discovered from a
 more distant point, it shall be imputed as a crime to those in charge
 of the nearer watching places, and the governors thus guilty of
 negligence shall be deprived of their offices. As soon as a Portuguese
 vessel shall be discovered, news shall be sent express to all the
 neighborhood, to the governors of Nagasaki and Ōsaka, and to the lord
 of Arima.

 “It is expressly forbidden to attack or molest any Portuguese vessel
 at sea, but only in some road, port, or haven of the empire, as to
 which you will conform to the orders that may be sent you from the
 governors of Nagasaki or the lord of Arima, except where necessity
 obliges instant action, in which case you will act as already
 commanded.

 “As to vessels of other nations, you will, according to the tenor of
 former ordinances, visit and examine them; and, after placing a strong
 guard on board, without allowing a single person to land, send them in
 all safety to Nagasaki.”


III. Letter from Louis XIV to the Emperor of Japan:[135]

 “To the sovereign and highest emperor and regent of the great empire
 of Japan, over subjects very submissive and obedient, the king of
 France wishes a long and happy life and a most prosperous reign:

 “Many wars, carried on by my ancestors, the kings of France, and many
 victories gained by them, as well over their neighbors as over distant
 kingdoms, having been followed by profound peace, the merchants of my
 kingdom, who trade throughout Europe, have taken occasion very humbly
 to beg me to open for them the way into other parts of the world to
 sail and to trade thither like the other European nations; and I
 have the rather inclined to accede to their request, from its being
 seconded by the wishes of the princes and nobles among my subjects,
 and by my own curiosity to be exactly informed of the manners and
 customs of the great kingdoms exterior to Europe, of which we have
 hitherto known nothing but from the narratives of our neighbors who
 have visited the East. I have, therefore, to satisfy as well my own
 inclination as the prayers of my subjects, determined to send deputies
 into all the kingdoms of the East; and as my envoy to your high and
 sovereign majesty, I have selected _Francis Caron_, who understands
 Japanese, and who has many times had the honor of paying his respects
 to your majesty, and of audience from you. For that express purpose
 I have caused him to come into my kingdom, knowing him very well to
 be of good extraction, though by misfortunes of war stripped of his
 property; but re-established by me in his former condition, and even
 elevated in honor and dignity, to make him more worthy to approach
 your high and sovereign majesty with all due respect. An additional
 motive for selecting him was fear lest another person, from ignorance
 of the wise ordinances and customs established by your majesty, might
 do something in contravention of them, and so might fall under your
 majesty’s displeasure; whence I have judged the said Francis Caron
 the most capable to present my letter and my requests, with such
 solemnities as might secure for them the best reception on the part
 of your majesty, and to make known my good affection and my frank
 desire to grant to your sovereign majesty whatever you may ask of me,
 in return for the grant of what I ask: which is, that the merchants
 of my kingdoms, who have united themselves into a company, may have
 free commerce throughout your majesty’s empire, without trouble or
 hindrance. I send you the present of trifling value here noted.... I
 hope it may be agreeable to your majesty, and that some things useful
 to your majesty may be found in my country, of which I voluntarily
 leave open and free all the ports.

 “At Paris, the twenty-fourth year of my reign [1666].

  “THE KING LOUIS.”

 NOTE.—What is said above of Caron’s good extraction, of his having
 lost his fortune by the chances of war, and of his re-establishment
 in his former position by the favor of the king, was, it is
 probable, merely intended to reconcile the Japanese to receiving as
 an envoy from the king of France a man whom they had known only in
 the—according to their ideas—low character of a Dutch merchant.

 In the instructions drawn up for the bearer of this letter, the
 following curious directions were given as to the answer to be made
 to the inquiries of the Japanese on the topic of religion: “As to the
 article of religion you will say, that the religion of the French
 is of two kinds—one the same with that of the Spaniards, the other
 the same with that of the Dutch;[136] and that his majesty, knowing
 that the religion of the Spaniards is disliked in Japan, has given
 orders that those of his subjects who go thither shall be of the
 Dutch religion; that this distinction will be carefully attended to;
 and that no Frenchman will ever be found wishing to contravene the
 imperial orders.[137] Should they advance as an objection, that the
 king of France depends upon the Pope, like the king of Spain, you will
 answer, that he does not depend upon him; that the king of France
 acknowledges no superior, and that the nature of his dependence upon
 the Pope may easily be seen in what has happened within two years, in
 consequence of an outrage at Rome upon the person of his majesty’s
 ambassador. The Pope not making a sufficiently speedy reparation, his
 majesty had sent an array into Italy, to the great terror of all the
 Italian princes, and of the Pope himself, who sent a legate to him
 charged with the most humble and pressing supplications, whereby his
 majesty was induced to recall his troops, which already had encamped
 in the Pope’s territories. So that the king is not only sovereign
 and absolute in his own domain, but also gives the law to many other
 potentates; being a young prince, twenty-five years of age, valiant,
 wise, and more powerful than any of his ancestors; and, withal, so
 curious that, besides a particular knowledge of all Europe, he eagerly
 seeks to know the constitution of the other countries of the world.”




INDEX


  Abegawa, River, i., 385.

  Acorns, Edible, ii., 142.

  _Acorus_, ii., 124.

  Actors, i., 212, 360-365; ii., 160, 161.

  Acupuncture, ii., 145, 202.

  Adams, ——, ii., 345.

  Adams, Captain Robert, i., 240.

  Adams, Thomas, i., 172.

  Adams, William, i., 169-179, 192, 199-204, 206, 207, 210, 211, 213,
    224, 225, 239, 240.

  Ainslie, Dr., ii., 208.

  “Ainu and their Folk-lore, The,” ii., 345.

  “Ainu of Japan, The,” ii., 345.

  Akechi Mitsuhide, i., 116, 117.

  _Alcea rosea_, ii., 124.

  Alcock, ——, ii., 345.

  Almeida, Louis, i., 93, 95, 96, 153, 165.

  Alphabets in use, i., 78; ii., 164.

  Alvarez, George, i., 38, 50.

  Ambassadors to the Pope, i., 103-115, 121, 122, 126, 128, 132.

  Ambergris, i., 329.

  Amboyna, Massacre of, i., 240, 241; ii., 355.

  “America in the East,” ii., 273.

  “American anchorage,” ii., 291.

  American relations with Japan. _See_ United States’ relations with
    Japan.

  Amida, the god and his idols, i., 399; ii., 49, 65.

  Amiot, Père, i., 7.

  “Amœnitates Exoticae,” i., 289, 315.

  _Amomum miōga_, ii., 124.

  _Anas galericulata_, ii., 135.

  Ancestor worship, ii., 188.

  Anderson, W., ii., 345.

  Angelis, Jerome de, i., 220, 265.

  Animals and birds eaten for food, i., 54, 75, 187; ii., 135;
    those not eaten, ii., 253.

  Anise-tree, i., 401; ii., 126.

  Anjirō, i., 38, 39, 41, 49-54, 82, 359.

  “Annales des Voyages,” ii., 349.

  “Annals des Dairi,” ii., 89.

  “Annals des Empereurs du Japon,” i., 257, 391; ii., 108, 165.

  “Annals of the Dairi,” i., 357.

  Apples, ii., 140.

  Arai, ii., 65, 70.

  Arai Hakuseki, ii., 112.

  _Aratame_, ii., 65.

  Architecture, domestic, i., 77, 187, 218, 339, 340, 390-392, 395; ii.,
    52, 63, 79, 129-131, 306, 318-322.

  “Archives of Japan,” i., 8.

  _Argonaut_, English ship, ii., 191.

  Arima, King of, i., 98, 102, 126.

  Armies and soldiery, i., 59, 215, 258.

  Armor, i., 139.

  Arms, or mark, upon clothing, etc., i., 116, 188, 371, 373; ii., 17,
    18, 285, 322.

  _Artemisia_, ii., 146.
    _See also_ Wormwood.

  “Arts and Crafts of Old Japan,” ii., 345.

  _Arum dracontium_ and _esculentum_, ii., 142.

  Asakawa, ——, ii., 345.

  “Asiatic Journal,” i., 195; ii., 46, 72, 108, 254, 352.

  Aston, W. G., i., 8, 145; ii., 199, 206, 345.

  Astronomers, ii., 143, 201, 223, 251.

  Asukagawa, River, i., 385.

  “Atlas Japonensis,” i., 266.

  _Atotsuke_, i., 370, 372.

  Atsuta (Miya), ii., 69.

  Audiences with emperor and princes, i., 175, 189-191, 217; ii., 55,
    56, 60-62, 85-104, 149-153, 331-334.

  Audsley, ——, and Bowes, ——, ii., 345.

  Austerities practised by both bonzes and Jesuits, i., 71, 88.

  Autographs of travellers, i., 218.

  Awa, Provinces of, ii., 283.

  Azuchiyama, i., 103, 116.


  Bacon, Miss, ii., 344.

  Baggage, i., 370-377.

  Baker, Edmund, i., 177.

  Baptiste, Father Pierre, i., 242.

  Barley, i., 76.

  Batchelor, John, ii., 345.

  Baths, ii., 9, 52, 134.

  Batoli, Father Daniel, i., 115.

  Bedding, ii., 5, 133, 156.

  Beechey, Captain, ii., 282.

  Beer, ii., 207.

  Beggars, ii., 23-28, 58.

  Bell in Miyako temple, ii., 105, 108.

  Benriū, River, i., 385.

  Bent, Lieut., ii., 302.

  Bettelheim, Rev. B. J., ii., 266, 267.

  Biddle, Commodore, ii., 261-265.

  Bidinger, Mr., ii., 300.

  _Bikuni_ (nuns), ii., 23, 24.

  Binding of prisoners, ii., 214, 270.

  Bird, Miss, ii., 344.

  Birds eaten for food, ii., 135.

  Biscanio, Sebastian, i., 270.

  Biwa, Lake, ii., 63, 67.

  Black, ——, ii., 345.

  Blindness, ii., 29.

  Blomhoff, Herr, ii., 245, 247.

  Blomhoff, Mme., ii., 245.

  _Blossom_, English ship, ii., 282.

  Bonin Islands, ii., 282, 292.

  Books, i., 77; ii., 118, 123, 224.

  Bōshū (Awa) Province, ii., 283.

  “Botanical Magazine” (Curtis), ii., 125.

  Botany, i., 374, 375; ii., 123, 157, 162, 253.

  Bowes, ——, and Audsley, ——, ii., 345.

  Bowmen, ii., 149.

  Bramhall, Mrs., ii., 344.

  _Brassica orientalis_, ii., 124, 137.

  _Breskens_, Dutch ship (1643), i., 262-264.

  Bridges, i., 385; ii., 50, 51, 57, 58, 67, 78, 329.

  Brixiano, Father Organtino, i., 149.

  Broadcloth, English, i., 224.

  Broughton, Captain, i., 265; ii., 191.

  Brown, Mr., ii., 302.

  Buddha, The great, ii., 108.

  Buddhism, i., 65, 70-74, 139, 275-277, 342, 343; ii., 28, 65.

  Buddhist clergy, i., 72-74, 275-277, 342, 343; ii., 65.

  Buddhist temples (_Tera_), i., 71, 275, 342, 397, 398; ii., 65, 304.

  _Buke_ (military nobility), i., 63.

  _Buku_, ii., 187.

  Bullocks, ii., 317.
    _See also_ Oxen.

  Bungo, Kingdom of, i., 25-29, 34-36, 84-86, 93, 98, 102, 118-120,
    124, 125, 145.

  Burger, Dr., ii., 252.

  Burial service, Jesuit, i., 88.

  Burrows, Silas E., ii., 312-314.

  Burying-grounds, ii., 123, 296, 307, 316.

  “Bushido—The Soul of Japan,” ii., 344.

  Cabot, Sebastian, i., 167.

  Cabral, Father, i., 97, 98, 100-101.

  _Cactus ficus_, ii., 159.

  _Caladium_, ii., 142.

  Calendar, Japanese, i., 32, 357.

  California, ii., 276, 278.

  Call to arms, i., 34, 35.

  Cambodia River, ii., 354.

  _Camellia sasankwa_, ii., 125.

  Campbell, ——, i., 302; ii., 345.

  Campbell, Archibald, ii., 203.

  Camphor-tree, i., 76; ii., 46, 125, 250.

  Candles, ii., 38, 39.

  Canvas batteries, ii., 257.

  “Capital of the Tycoon, The,” ii., 345.

  _Capsicum_, ii., 124.

  “Captive of Love, A,” ii., 345.

  “Captivity in Japan,” i., 33.

  Carac of Macao, Cargo of, i., 153, 154, 269, 270.

  Card games, ii., 224.

  Caron, Francis, i., 224, 240, 243, 253-257, 260, 261, 266, 267, 273,
    343, 352, 368, 373; ii., 16, 30, 46, 65, 135, 355, 365, 366.

  Carvilho, Father Valentine, i., 227, 242.

  Cassa, Heer, ii., 207, 209.

  Castles, i., 186, 392-394; ii., 48, 54, 58, 63, 69, 80-83, 86-88.

  _Castricoom_, Dutch ship (1643), i., 262, 264, 265.

  Casuar, rare Batavian bird, i., 265, 368; ii., 53.

  Catechists, Native, i., 100, 127, 128, 231.

  Catholic Church in the East, i., 40, 41, 45-47, 65, 205, 235, 261,
    267, 277, 396.
    _See also_ Missionaries _and_ Xavier, Francis.

  Cats, ii., 138, 253.

  Cavendish, Thomas, i., 167, 271.

  Cecille, Admiral, ii., 265.

  Cedar-trees, ii., 141.

  _Celastrus alatus_, ii., 124.

  Cevicos, Don Jean, i., 245, 246.

  Chamberlain, ——, ii., 345.

  Chaplin-Ayrton, Mrs., ii., 344.

  Charlevoix, Father, i., 20, 85, 101, 115, 154, 232, 246, 265, 290.

  Charms against evil spirits, ii., 323.

  Cherry-trees, ii., 10, 140.

  “Child Life in Japan,” ii., 344.

  Children, i., 259, 260, 353; ii., 41, 73, 121, 135, 211.

  China trade, i., 12, 270, 273-275, 277-281; ii., 111, 275, 276.

  “Chinese Repository,” ii., 254, 255, 258, 284.

  “Chiushingura, the Loyal League,” ii., 345.

  Chronicles, Japanese, i., 1, 64.

  _Citrus tripoliata_, ii., 142.

  Civility of Japanese, i., 287; ii., 34, 41.

  “Classical Poetry of the Japanese,” ii., 345.

  Clement, Ernest W., i., 78; ii., 343, 357, 360.

  _Cleopatra_, French frigate, ii., 265.

  Climate, ii., 162.

  Clocks, ii., 126, 251.

  Coal, ii., 311, 312.

  Cocks, Richard, i., 213, 223-225, 229, 234, 236, 239, 240; ii., 121,
    122.

  Coimbra (Portugal) University, i., 45;
    Jesuit college, i., 46, 85.

  Coins and currency, i., 59, 60, 257, 272, 273, 277, 278, 322, 372;
    ii., 109-111, 309-311, 337.

  “Coins of Japan, The,” ii., 310.

  Colbert, ——, i., 266, 368; ii., 355, 364.

  Colds and catarrh, ii., 134.

  Colewort, ii., 124.

  Colic, Treatment of, ii., 145.

  Collado, Father, i., 244-246.

  _Columbus_, American ship, ii., 261-265, 283.

  Company of Jesus.
    _See_ Order of Jesuits _and_ Missionaries, Jesuit.

  Company’s Island, i., 124, 265.

  Compliments, i., 27.

  Concubines and courtesans, i., 260, 279, 292, 310, 340, 341, 356;
    ii., 23, 30, 120, 121, 175, 249.

  Conder, ——, ii., 7.

  Contee, Mr., ii., 284.

  “Contributions towards a Knowledge of the Japanese Empire,” ii., 247.

  Converts, native, i., 84, 85, 88, 94-98, 100, 102, 103, 118-121,
    124-129, 134, 140, 141, 145, 155-158, 162-164, 195, 207, 211, 222,
    227-234, 243-248, 267, 268.
    _See also_ Missionaries.

  Cook-shops, ii., 12, 13.

  Cooper, Captain, ii., 260, 261.

  Copper, i., 329; ii., 159, 202, 203.

  Corean expedition, i., 128, 140, 141, 144, 145, 151, 162; ii., 108.

  Corvailho, Father.
    _Same as_ Carvilho, Father Valentine.

  Couros, Father Matthew de, i., 159.

  Cows, ii., 137.

  Craftsmen segregate, i., 187, 217.

  Credit on accounts, ii., 127.

  Crucifixion, i., 156.

  _Crusado_, i., 17.

  Cuello, Father Gaspard, i., 102, 119, 126.

  _Cupressus japonica_, ii., 141.

  _Cyprus_, English brig, ii., 254.


  Daguerreotypes, ii., 302.

  Daibutsu Temple, ii., 106.

  Daifu-Sama.
    _See_ Iyeyasu.

  _Daikoku_, i., 359.

  Dairi, or Mikado, i., 60-66; ii., 166, 167.

  Dale, Sir Thomas, i., 237, 238.

  Date Masamune, i., 204.

  Davidson, J. W., i., 302; ii., 345.

  Davis, pilot of Dutch vessel, i., 169, 177; ii., 353, 354.

  Dee-yee-no-skee, Japanese seaman, ii., 312-314.

  De Jancigny, ——, ii., 254, 274, 277, 310.

  Dening, ——, i., 150.

  Deshima, Island of, i., 248, 262, 291-294; ii., 117.

  Devereux, Captain, ii., 194.

  _Diana_, Russian sloop, ii., 212, 226-243, 324.

  “Diary of Richard Cocks,” i., 226, 267.

  Dick, Stewart, ii., 345.

  Dickins, ——, ii., 345.

  Dickson, ——, ii., 345.

  Dictionary, Japanese-Dutch, ii., 210.

  _Dioscorea Japonica_, ii., 124.

  Distance, Measures of, i., 382, 391; ii., 89.

  Dixon, ——, ii., 345.

  Doeff, Heer Hendrick, ii., 194-212, 245.

  Dogs, ii., 138, 253.

  _Dolichos polystachos_, ii., 159.

  _Dolichos soia_, ii., 159.

  Dominicans in Japanese missions.
    _See_ Missionaries, Catholic, other than Jesuit.

  Dosha powder, ii., 147.

  Dōshin, or imperial soldiers, i., 257, 346; ii., 223.

  Drake, Sir Francis, i., 167; ii., 351.

  Draughts, Game of, ii., 224, 225.

  Dress, i., 105, 210-212, 276, 375, 376; ii., 55, 56, 58, 143, 154-156,
    248, 285, 331, 332.

  Dress, ease of adjustment, ii., 9, 133, 156.

  Dresser, ——, ii., 345.

  Drinking, i., 343; ii., 39, 226.

  Dutch East India Company, i., 169, 209, 238, 251-253, 261, 272,
    283-336, 366; ii., 31-41, 101, 109-111, 114-120, 122, 123, 126-129,
    136, 139, 193-209, 245, 246.
    _See also_ Dutch in Japan.

  Dutch in Japan, i., 165, 167-175, 177, 179, 181-185, 191, 192,
    195-204, 206-209, 220, 221, 223, 228, 233-238, 240, 241, 251-256,
    261-267, 271-273, 277-281, 284-301; ii., 274, 275, 325.
    _See also_ Dutch East India Company.

  _Dyosperos kaki_, ii., 159.


  “Early Institutional Life of Japan,” ii., 345.

  “Early Study of Dutch in Japan, The,” ii., 210.

  Earthquakes, i., 77, 151, 391, 392; ii., 50, 85, 143, 173, 324.

  _Eclipse_, American ship, ii., 203.

  Eclipses, ii., 143, 223.

  Edicts, i., 395, 396.

  _Edmund_, English whaler, ii., 273.

  Education, i., 77, 88.

  Elephant, ii., 209, 223.

  Elgin, Lord, ii., 335.

  _Eliza_, American ship, ii., 193, 194.

  Elserak, Dutch director, i., 264.

  Embassy to Washington, ii., 335-339.

  Emperor, Castle of, ii., 80-83, 86-91, 148-153.

  Emperors, Chronology of, ii., 158, 166, 360, 361.

  Empress, ii., 91.

  English East India Company, i., 178, 219, 220, 225, 236-241, 267.
    _See also_ English in the East.

  English in the East, i., 167, 169, 175, 178, 179, 207-209, 219-221,
    228, 230, 233-240, 278; ii., 246, 259, 260, 272, 273, 323, 324, 335.
    _See also_ English East India Company.

  Enoshima, Island of, ii., 74.

  “Essay on the Commerce of Japan,” ii., 274.

  Everett, Hon. Edward, ii., 280.

  “Evolution of the Japanese, The,” ii., 344.

  “Examiner” (London), ii., 259.

  Executions and tortures, i., 156, 214, 246, 247, 333-335, 349, 353,
    354, 396; ii., 75.

  Eye diseases, ii., 29, 123.


  Fans, i., 376.

  Farming class, ii., 159.

  “Fauna Japonica,” ii., 253.

  Feith, M., ii., 157.

  Fernandes, Jean, i., 52.

  Ferreyra, Father Christopher, i., 247, 248, 264.

  Ferry-boats, i., 385.

  Festivals, i., 69, 223, 224, 356-365; ii., 188, 189, 225, 226.

  “Feudal and Modern Japan,” ii., 344.

  _Figara peperita_, ii., 124.

  Figure-treading, Ceremony of, i., 298, 352, 396; ii., 128, 271.

  Fillmore, President, ii., 276-281.

  Firearms, i., 24, 25, 33; ii., 149, 224, 346-348.

  Fire-extinguishers, i., 367; ii., 52, 79, 303.

  Fire-flies, ii., 158.

  Firemen, ii., 76, 79, 200.

  Fires, i., 77; ii., 70, 71, 78, 79, 143, 173, 200, 303, 321.

  Fir-trees, ii., 141.

  Fischer, ——, i., 33.

  _Fiscus pumila_ and _erecta_, ii., 124.

  Fishermen, i., 214; ii., 213.

  Fisscher, Herr, ii., 210, 247-250.

  Fitch, Ralph, i., 269, 270; ii., 351, 352.

  “Flora Japonica” (Siebold and Zaccarini), ii., 253.

  “Flora Japonica” (Thunberg), ii., 162.

  Floris, ——, ii., 354.

  Flower-arrangements, ii., 7.

  Flute, ii., 315.

  Food, i., 54, 75, 76, 187, 216, 286, 343; ii., 12, 13, 38, 75, 98, 99,
    102-104, 126, 127, 140, 159, 215, 217, 220, 317, 318, 333, 334.

  Foot-coverings, ii., 142.

  Fords, i., 384, 385.

  Foreigners, Antipathy to, i., 214.

  Forestry regulations, i., 381.

  Formosa, i., 252-255, 262, 271, 274, 302; ii., 355.

  “Formosa under the Dutch,” i., 302; ii., 345.

  Fowls, Domestic, ii., 138.

  Foxes, i., 75; ii., 42, 43.

  Franciscans in Japanese missions.
    _See_ Missionaries, Catholic, other than Jesuit.

  _Franklin_, American ship, ii., 194.

  “Free Press” (Serampore), ii., 265.

  French East India Company, i., 266.

  French in Japanese affairs, i., 266; ii., 265, 335.

  Frisius, of the Dutch East India Company, i., 265, 266.

  Froez, Father Louis, i., 95, 96, 131, 133, 141, 159, 165, 266; ii., 38.

  “Frog-in-a-well” policy, ii., 170, 171, 193.

  “From Far Formosa,” ii., 345.

  Fruits, ii., 140, 159.

  Fuchū, i., 25, 27, 35, 36.

  _Fucus saccharinus_, ii., 140.

  Fujigawa, River, i., 385; ii., 72.

  Fuji-jedagawa, River, i., 385.

  Fuji-no-Yama, ii., 72, 141, 286, 328.

  Funeral customs, ii., 183-189.

  Furniture and interiors, i., 340, 391, 392; ii., 4-8, 52, 55, 62, 130,
    131, 133, 303, 330.

  Fushimi, i., 140, 151, 215; ii., 58.


  Gago, Balthaza, i., 87, 90, 93.

  Galvano, Antonio, i., 13, 14, 40, 41, 56.

  _Gardenia Florida_, ii., 142.

  Gardens, i., 194; ii., 10-12, 52, 82, 322.

  Gate Guard, Nagasaki, i., 312.

  “Gate of the two kings,” ii., 108.

  Gaubil, Father, i., 8.

  _Gege_ (plebeians), i., 62.

  Geisenger, Captain, 266.

  “Genji Monogatari,” ii., 345.

  Gin, ii., 206.

  Ginseng, ii., 118.

  “Glimpse at the Art of Japan, A,” ii., 345.

  “Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan,” ii., 344.

  _Globe_, English ship, ii., 354.

  Globius (Takaro Sampei), ii., 201, 222, 223, 239, 248.

  Glyn, Commander, ii., 266-269, 271.

  Gnecchi, Father, i., 97, 103, 119, 146, 155, 159, 164.

  Goa, i., 12, 38, 41, 48; ii., 350-353.

  Godō, i., 277.

  _Goede Frouw_, Dutch ship, ii., 206.

  Go-kirai (The Tenza), i., 164.

  Golownin, Vassili, i., 21, 22, 33, 59, 66, 124, 162, 221, 265; ii.,
    140, 159, 200, 208, 212-244, 246.

  Gomez, Father, i., 126.

  Gongen-Sama (Iyeyasu, _which see_), i., 230.

  Gordon, Captain, ii., 246.

  Goseman, ——, ii., 205.

  Gotō Shōzaburō, treasurer to Emperor Hashiba, i., 199, 200.

  Governors of Nagasaki, i., 347.

  Gowns presented to Company, ii., 104, 154;
    to U. S. Consul, ii., 333.

  Griffis, William Elliot, i., 74; ii., 273, 324, 344.

  Gros, Baron, ii., 335.

  Grote, George, i., 275.

  Gruy, ——, ii., 345.

  “Guitar” (samisen), ii., 315.

  Gulick, Sidney, ii., 344.

  Gusman, Father Luys de, i., 115, 131.

  Gutzlaff, Mr., ii., 255.

  Gysbert (or Guysbert), Roger, i., 243, 244, 352, 354.


  Hackluyt’s translations, i., 14, 122, 150, 152, 165, 177, 178, 270;
    ii., 350, 351.

  Hagenaar, ——, i., 247, 253-255, 261, 343; ii., 355.

  Hagendorp, Heer, ii., 196.

  Hair, Manner of wearing, ii., 147, 148.

  Hakata, Island of Shimo, i., 82, 213, 214.

  Hakodate, Island of Matsumae, i., 221; ii., 191, 213, 216, 305, 306.

  Hakone pass, ii., 65, 73, 141, 328.

  Hamamatsu, ii., 70.

  Hamilton, Dr., ii., 316.

  _Hanashikimi_ (anise-tree), i., 401.
    _See also_ Shikimi.

  “Handbook of Modern Japan, A,” i., 78; ii., 343, 357, 360.

  Handkerchiefs, ii., 155.

  Harada Kiyemon, i., 134, 135, 142, 148.

  Hara-kiri, i., 78, 79, 229, 260.

  Harbors, i., 386, 387.

  “Harper’s Magazine,” i., 166.

  Harris, Mrs., ii., 345.

  Harris, Townsend, ii., 325-335.

  Hartman, S., ii., 345.

  Hartshorne, Miss, ii., 344.

  Hashiba (Taikō-Sama), i., 117-121, 123, 124, 126-144, 147-151, 155,
    158-161, 193; ii., 54, 167.

  Hatch, Arthur, i., 240.

  Hawkins, Sir Richard and Sir John, i., 167.

  Hay’s (John) translations, i., 115, 132, 150, 165, 205.

  Healthfulness of houses, i., 392.

  Hearn, Lafcadio, ii., 344.

  Heating of houses, ii., 5, 6, 120, 131, 303, 321.

  Hecr, ——, ii., 346.

  Heine, Mr., ii., 302.

  Hemmi, Adams’s estate, i., 225, 240.

  Hemp, ii., 124.

  Heusken, Mr., ii., 328, 332.

  _Hibiscus manihot_, ii., 132.

  Hidetsugu (Kwambacudono), i., 140, 149.

  Hideyori, son of Taikō-Sama, i., 150, 161, 163, 197, 198, 229.

  “Hideyoshi’s Invasion of Korea,” i., 145.

  Hieizan, Mountain of, i., 98; ii., 67.

  Highways, i., 189, 216, 380-384; ii., 15, 16, 33, 123, 328, 329.

  Higo, Castle of, ii., 54.

  Hildreth, Richard, i., 10; ii., 364.

  Hiōgo, ii., 334.

  Hirado, i., 254, 261.

  Hirado, Prince of, i., 177, 184, 185, 196, 197, 210, 213.

  “His Pilgrimes” (or “His Pilgrimage”), i., 177, 178, 220, 225, 232;
     ii., 354.

  “Hist. Gen. des Voyages,” i., 198.

  “Histoire de la Dynastie des Mongoux,” i., 8.

  “Histoire du Japon,” i., 20, 115, 246.

  “Histoire Général de la China,” i., 7.

  “Histoire Mythologique,” i., 357.

  “Historia de la Compagnia de Gesu,” i., 115.

  “History of Greece,” i., 275.

  “History of Japan” (Adams), ii., 345.

  “History of Japan” (Charlevoix), i., 290.

  “History of Japan” (Kämpfer), i., 289-291.

  “History of Japanese Literature,” ii., 345.

  “History of Java,” i., 272; ii., 110-112.

  “History of Plants,” ii., 125.

  “History of the Empire of Japan,” ii., 346.

  “History of the English Factory at Hirado,” i., 226.

  “History of the United States,” ii., 364.

  Hizen, Province of, i., 82, 120.

  Hoffman, assistant to Siebold, i., 8.

  Hōin-Sama.
    _See_ Hirado, Prince of.

  Homicide, Punishment for, i., 354.

  “Honda the Samurai,” ii., 344.

  Horseback-riding, i., 370-377.

  Horse-shoes, i., 373.

  Horses, i., 215; ii., 138, 317.

  _Hotei_, i., 359.

  _Hotoke_, or idols, i., 399.

  Houtman, Cornelius, i., 168, 169, 177; ii., 353.

  Huish, ——, ii., 345.

  Hyōgo, Province Settsu, ii., 49.


  “Ideals of the East, The,” ii., 345.

  Idols, i., 193, 399, 400; ii., 45, 106-108.
    _See also_ Temples.

  “Illustrations of Japan,” i., 79; ii., 81, 147, 168, 174.

  Image-trampling.
    _See_ Figure-treading.

  Imhoff, author of Dutch memoir, i., 272; ii., 110.

  _Imi_, ii., 186, 187.

  Incomes of princes, i., 240, 256-259.

  “Indian History,” i., 14.

  Indulgence-boxes, i., 401.

  Ingen, Buddhist priest, i., 275-277.

  Inns, i., 187, 216; ii., 2-13, 29, 36-41, 328.

  “Intercourse between the United States and Japan, The,” ii., 273.

  Interest, ii., 127.

  Interpreters, i., 302-306, 369, 370; ii., 34, 117, 164.

  Ise Temple, i., 68, 69; ii., 20, 21, 69.

  “Island of Formosa, The,” i., 302; ii., 345.

  Iyeyasu (Tokugawa Iyeyasu), i., 161-163, 175-177, 190-193, 200, 201,
    218-223, 230.

  Izu, Cape, ii., 283, 328.


  Jacatra (Batavia), i., 237; ii., 354.

  Jancigny.
    _See_ De Jancigny.

  “Japan” (De Jancigny), ii., 254, 277.

  “Japan” (Dickson), ii., 345.

  “Japan” (Reed), ii., 345.

  “Japan—An Interpretation,” ii., 344.

  “Japan and her People,” ii., 344.

  “Japan and its Art,” ii., 345.

  “Japan in Art and Industry,” ii., 345.

  “Japan in History, Folk-lore, and Art,” ii., 344.

  “Japan, its Architecture, Art, and Art Manufactures,” ii., 345.

  “Japan: presented in Sketches of the Manners and Customs of that
     Realm, especially of the Town of Nagasaki,” ii., 249.

  Japan Society, London, i., 8.

  “Japanese Armour,” ii., 149.

  “Japanese Art,” ii., 345.

  “Japanese Boy, A,” ii., 344.

  “Japanese Calendars,” i., 352.

  “Japanese Costume,” ii., 154.

  “Japanese Education,” ii., 345.

  “Japanese Fairy World” (Griffis), ii., 344.

  “Japanese Fairy World, The” (Ozaki), ii., 344.

  “Japanese Fans,” i., 376.

  “Japanese Funeral Rites,” ii., 183.

  “Japanese Girls and Women,” ii., 344.

  “Japanese Heraldry,” i., 117.

  “Japanese Homes,” ii., 344.

  Japanese in America, i., 152.

  “Japanese Life in Town and Country,” ii., 344.

  “Japanese Plays,” ii., 345.

  “Japanese Rituals,” i., 66.

  Jarves, J. J., ii., 345.

  Jesuits.
    _See_ Order of Jesuits.

  Jewels, ii., 332.

  Jizō, Idol of, i., 399; ii., 45.

  Jodogawa, River, ii., 50.

  Johannis Botanicus, ii., 201.

  Jones, Sir William, ii., 164.

  Jontoux, Father, ii., 118.

  “Journal of Commerce” (New York), ii., 293.

  Jūdo, i., 74, 277.

  _Jugulans nigra_, ii., 144.

  _Junrei_, ii., 22.


  _Kago_, i., 377-379.

  Kahei, Takataya, ii., 228-243.

  Kakegawa, ii., 70.

  Kamakura image of Buddha, i., 218.

  Kamakura, Island of, ii., 74.

  _Kamban_, i., 323-325.

  Kamel, George Joseph, ii., 125.

  _Kami_, i., 66.
    _See also_ Shintō.

  Kämpfer’s account of Japan, i., 8, 27, 32, 59, 64, 66, 196, 202, 225,
    240, 244, 249, 256, 257, 267, 272, 274-401; ii., 1-109, 118, 125,
    146, 159, 169, 250, 254, 300.

  Kanagawa, ii., 74, 293, 300, 303, 334.

  _Kanrin-maru_, Japanese steamer, ii., 336.

  “Keramic Art of Japan,” ii., 345.

  Kinosita, Yetaro, ii., 345.

  Kitchin, ——, ii., 345.

  _Kitō_, i., 60, 276; ii., 167.

  Kiūshiū.
    _See_ Shimo.

  Klaproth, Heinrich, i., 32, 69, 181, 257, 357, 359, 391; ii., 46, 62,
    67, 72, 89, 108, 112, 165, 199.

  Knapp, A. M., ii., 344.

  Knox, Dr., ii., 112.

  Knox, G. W., ii., 344.

  Kōbō, saint and sage, ii., 147.

  Kochebecker, of the Dutch East India Company, i., 261.

  “Kojiki,” i., 359; ii., 346.

  “Kokoro,” ii., 344.

  _Koku_, i., 240.

  Kokura, capital of Buzen, ii., 48.

  Konishi Settsu-no-Kami, i., 163.

  Kōshi (Confucius), ii., 68.

  Koxinga, Chinese pirate, i., 302.

  Koya, near Miyako, i., 292.

  Kōzukeno-Suke, secretary to Emperor Hashiba, i., 199, 200.

  Kramer, Conrad, i., 252.

  Krusenstern, Captain, ii., 196, 197.

  Kublai Khan, i., 2, 4, 8-10.

  Kubō-Sama, i., 58, 61, 62, 64.

  Kuchiki Samon, ii., 163.

  Kuchinotsu, i., 94, 102.

  _Kuge_ (patricians), i., 62, 66; ii., 21.

  Kuno, Fortress of, ii., 71.

  _Kuri_, i., 300, 308.

  Kurile Islands, i., 123, 221, 265; ii., 190, 212, 213.

  Kurume, Castle of, ii., 47.

  Kuwana, Province of Owari, ii., 69.

  Kwambacudono, i., 118, 123, 140, 149, 150.

  Kwannon Temple, ii., 107.

  Kyōto (Miyako, _which see_), i., 215.


  _Ladoga_, American whaler, ii., 266, 269.

  _Lady Pierce_, American ship, ii., 312-314.

  _Lady Rowena_, ii., 258.

  Lampacau Island, i., 19.

  Lancaster, Captain, i., 167, 177.

  “Land of the Morning, The,” ii., 345.

  Langsdorff, Attaché, ii., 197.

  Lanterns, i., 373; ii., 329.

  La Perouse, Voyage of, i., 124, 221, 265; ii., 190.

  La Salle, ii., 364.

  Lattices, ii., 91.

  _Lawrence_, American whaler, ii., 265.

  Laws, i., 78, 206, 260, 354; ii., 161, 162, 245.

  Laxman, Lieut., ii., 191, 192, 196, 219.

  Lay, ——, ii., 183.

  Leeds, ——, ii., 351, 352.

  Lepers, i., 164.

  “Letters Written by the English Residents in Japan, 1611-1623,”
    i., 178, 207, 219.

  Lew Chew Islands, i., 31, 124, 181, 281; ii., 312, 355.

  Liano, Spanish gentleman, i., 142.

  Linschooten, Hugh, i., 168.

  Liverwort used as charm, i., 401.

  “Log of a Japanese Journey,” ii., 345.

  Lowell, P., ii., 344.

  Loyola, Ignatius, i., 42, 43, 90.

  “L’univers, ou Histoire et Description de tout les Peuples,” ii., 254.


  Macartney, Lord, ii., 164.

  Mackay, ——, ii., 345.

  Maclay, A. C., ii., 345.

  Maffei, ——, i., 14, 81, 165.

  Mahay, Jacques, i., 169, 170.

  Maize, ii., 317.

  Makino Bingo-no-Kami, ii., 84.

  Malela, Father, i., 7.

  _Malva Mauritiana_, ii., 124.

  _Mamori_, ii., 179.

  Manchu dynasty, i., 274.

  _Manjū_, a cake, ii., 13, 98.

  _Mankoku_, i., 240.

  Manners, ii., 174.
    _See also_ Civility of Japanese.

  “Manners and Customs of the Japanese in the Nineteenth Century,”
    ii., 254.

  Manufactures, i., 77;
    of Miyako, ii., 63, 64;
    of Suruga, ii., 71.

  Manuscript history, ii., 168.

  Maple-trees, ii., 141.

  Maps, ii., 157, 251, 252.

  Marco Polo, i., 1-6, 13.

  _Mariner_, English ship, ii., 272, 273.

  “Marriage Ceremonies,” ii., 170, 172.

  Marriages, i., 259; ii., 174-183, 225.

  Marsden, ——, translator, i., 2, 4, 6.

  Matheson, Commander, ii., 272, 273.

  Mats, Floor, i., 391; ii., 5, 52, 89, 91, 131, 152.

  Matsumae, ii., 220, 226.

  Matsumae Island.
    _See_ Matsumaye Island.

  Matsumaye (Yezo or Matsumae) Island, i., 123, 124, 220, 221, 262-265;
    ii., 222.

  _Matsuri_ (public spectacle at Nagasaki), i., 296, 356-365.

  Matsuura Hoin.
    _See_ Hirado, Prince of.

  “Matthew Galbraith Perry,” ii., 324.

  May, Henry, i., 178.

  McClatchie, ——, ii., 345.

  McCoy, American seaman, ii., 270, 271.

  McDonald, Ranald, American seaman, ii., 271, 272.

  Meals, ii., 39, 133.

  Measures and weights, i., 23, 59, 249, 272.

  Medhurst, Mr., ii., 210.

  Medicine and surgery, i., 26, 28, 77; ii., 68, 93, 94, 118, 122,
    145-147.

  _Melea azedarach_, ii., 125.

  Melis, Thomas, i., 169.

  “Memoir on the Trade of Japan, and the Causes of its Decline,”
    i., 272; ii., 110.

  “Mémoires concernant les Chinois,” i., 7.

  “Memoirs of the Shōguns” (or Djoguns), i., 98; ii., 168.

  “Memorable Embassies of the Dutch to the Emperors of Japan,” i., 266,
    272; ii., 88.

  “Memorials of the Empire of Japan,” i., 225.

  _Mentha piperita_, ii., 124.

  _Mercator_, American whaler, ii., 260, 261.

  Merchant class, ii., 139, 174, 243, 244.

  Merchant marine of Japan, i., 180, 181.
    _See also_ Trade.

  Mermaids, ii., 53.

  _Mespillus japonica_, ii., 159.

  Messengers, ii., 2.

  Meylan, G. F., ii., 248-250.

  Mimitsuka Chapel, ii., 108.

  Mindanao, Island of, i., 55, 56.

  Mines, ii., 111, 112, 250.

  “Mirror of Yedo,” i., 257.

  Mirrors, ii., 133.

  _Miseratsie_, or wall adornments, ii., 4, 6-8.

  Missionaries, Catholic, other than Jesuit, i., 147-149, 151, 152,
    155-160, 163, 164, 179, 223, 228-232, 241-248, 268.

  Missionaries, Jesuit, i., 38-41, 45-56, 60, 63-65, 67, 70-72, 81-91,
    93-98, 100-103, 116-121, 124-136, 138, 142, 143, 145-149, 151-160,
    162-164, 175, 179, 205, 222, 227-234, 241-248, 263, 264, 268, 269,
    279, 280; ii., 169, 259.

  Missionaries, Protestant, i., 147; ii., 255, 259, 266.

  _Mississippi_, American frigate, ii., 281, 282, 287, 291, 314, 315.

  Mitford, A. B. F., ii., 344.

  “Mito Yashiki,” ii., 345.

  Mitsukuri, Dr., ii., 210.

  Miya (Atsuta), ii., 69.

  _Miya_ (Shintō temples), i., 67-69, 398, 399; ii., 302.

  Miyako, i., 61, 83, 96, 97, 155, 161, 163, 164, 192, 222; ii., 58,
    62-66, 104-108, 140.

  Mongols, i., 2, 6-10.

  “Moniteur des Indes,” ii., 274.

  Monsoons, i., 316.

  Moor, Captain, ii., 228, 229, 236.

  Mōri Motonari, i., 90, 95, 103.

  _Morrison_, American brig, ii., 255-258, 284.

  Morse, E. S., ii., 344.

  _Morus papyrifira_, ii., 132.

  Mossman, ——, ii., 345.

  Mountain priests, i., 74; ii., 23-25, 72.

  Mountains, i., 386, 387; ii., 134, 255.

  Mourning, ii., 178, 185-187.

  Moxa, ii., 126, 145, 146.

  Mulberry-trees, i., 76; ii., 132.

  Munro, ——, ii., 310.

  Murakami, N., i., 226.

  Murakawn, K., i., 178.

  Murray, D., ii., 158, 344.

  Murray, Lieut., ii., 302.

  Mushrooms, ii., 159.

  Music and musicians, i., 212, 213, 357, 362; ii., 28, 315.


  Nabores, Hieronymo de, i., 270.

  Nagasaki, i., 97, 102, 125, 128, 143, 145, 156-160, 164, 234, 235,
    244, 275, 284, 285, 291-294, 337-353, 355-365, 397.

  _Naibun_, ii., 241.

  _Namida_ (Sanscrit prayer), i., 344; ii., 27, 73.

  “Narrative of a Japanese, The,” ii., 346.

  Natural history researches, ii., 251-253.

  Nettles, ii., 124.

  “New Japan,” ii., 345.

  “New Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi,” i., 150.

  New Moon ceremonies, ii., 316.

  New Year’s Day (European), ii., 126.

  New Year’s Day (Japanese), i., 357; ii., 127, 225, 226.

  “New York Times,” ii., 310.

  “New York Tribune,” ii., 301, 316.

  Newbury, John, ii., 351, 352.

  _Niagara_, U. S. frigate, ii., 337.

  Nicholson, Lieut., ii., 302.

  _Nihombashi_, or great bridge at Yedo, i., 380; ii., 78, 200.

  Nikkō Temple, i., 230, 253.

  Ningpo, i., 13.

  Ni-ō-mon, “gate of the two kings,” ii., 108.

  Nippon, i., 1, 27, 57, 124.

  “Nippon Ōdai Ichiran,” ii., 165.

  “Nippon, or Archives for the Description of Japan,” ii., 254.

  Nitobe, I. O., ii., 273, 344.

  Nobles, i., 240, 256-260; ii., 70, 81, 149-153.

  Nobunaga (Oda Nobunaga), i., 96-98, 102, 103, 116, 117, 139.

  Noises of the town, i., 344; ii., 189.

  Noort, Oliver, i., 169, 171.

  _Norimono_, i., 347, 377-379; ii., 327.

  _Noshi_, ii., 177.

  “Notes on the Intercourse between Japan and Siam in the Seventeenth
     Century,” ii., 354.

  “Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits,” ii., 165.

  “Noto, an Unexplored Corner of Japan,” ii., 344.

  “Nouveau Journal Asiatique,” i., 181; ii., 112.

  “Nouveau Mélanges Asiatique,” ii., 146, 165.

  Nugnes Barreto, Father, i., 88-90.

  Nuyts, Peter de, i., 252-254; ii., 355.


  Oaks, ii., 142.

  Oars, i., 389.

  Ōbaku, papal residence of Ingen, i., 276.

  Odawara, ii., 73.

  Official life at Nagasaki, i., 345-350.

  Ōgosho-Sama, i., 163.
    _See also_ Iyeyasu.

  _Oharai_, or indulgence, ii., 21.

  Ōigawa, River, i., 384, 385; ii., 71.

  Ōita, i., 27.

  Okakara, ——, ii., 345.

  Okasaki, ii., 69.

  Ōmura, town and bay, ii., 45.

  Opium war, ii., 259.

  Order of Jesuits, i., 41-46, 54.
    _See_ Missionaries, Jesuit.

  Orfanel, Father Fray Jacinto, i., 246.

  Oriental Translation Fund, ii., 165.

  “Oriental Travels,” Marco Polo, i., 1-6.

  “Origin of Spanish and Portuguese Rivalry in Japan, The,” i., 135.

  “Origin of the Riches of Japan,” ii., 112.

  _Oryris japonica_, ii., 142.

  Ōsaka, i., 118, 127, 155, 161, 164, 175, 195, 214, 215, 230, 382;
    ii., 49-54, 324, 334.

  Ōshima, Island of, ii., 305.

  Ōtsu, town and lake, ii., 63, 67.

  Outcast Japanese, i., 249; ii., 192, 258.

  Oxen, ii., 59, 137.

  Ozaki, Miss, ii., 344.


  Pacheco, Father, i., 245.

  Pack-horses and travellers’ equipment, i., 370-377.

  Palaces, i., 188, 189, 340; ii., 80.
    _See also_ Castles _and_ Emperor, Castle of.

  Palanquins, i., 216.

  Paper, ii., 132, 133.

  Paper-hangings, i.,340, 392; ii., 52.

  Parish priests, i., 180, 229.

  Parker, Dr., ii., 255.

  “Parli, the Last of the Missionaries,” ii., 345.

  “Past and Present of Japanese Commerce, The,” ii., 345.

  Paul of the Holy Faith.
    _See_ Anjirō.

  Pazio, Father Francis, i., 163.

  Pearls, ii., 45, 46.

  Pears, ii., 140.

  Peel’s Island, ii., 282.

  Pellew, Captain, ii., 204, 205.

  “Peregrinations in the East,” i., 14, 15; ii., 348-350.

  Perry, Commodore, ii., 238, 276-324.

  Persecution of Catholic missionaries, i., 119, 120, 125, 126,
    155-160, 164, 205, 222, 227-234, 240-251, 261.

  _Phaeton_, English frigate, ii., 204, 205, 208.

  _Phascolus_, ii., 124, 159.

  _Philadelphia_, U. S. steamer, ii., 336.

  Philippine Islands, i., 56, 134, 135, 152, 166.

  Physicians, i., 28, 29; ii., 68, 93, 94, 103, 144-147, 157, 172, 250.

  “Pictorial Arts of Japan, The,” ii., 345.

  Pilgrimages, i., 69; ii., 20-22, 69.

  Pillows, ii., 5, 133.

  Pilotage rates, ii., 311.

  Pilots, i., 387.

  Pinkerton’s collection, i., 261, 267.

  Pinto, Fernam Mendez, i., 14-31, 34-38, 49, 52, 84, 88, 89, 91, 92;
   ii., 112, 348-350.

  _Pinus abies_, ii., 144.

  _Pinus silvestris_, ii., 142.

  _Pisum sativum_, ii., 124.

  Plane-trees, ii., 82.

  Ploughing, i., 216.

  _Plymouth_, American sloop, ii., 282.

  Police protection, i., 188, 214, 349-353, 356.

  _Pologonum_, ii., 124.

  Population, i., 186, 190, 192, 195, 257; ii., 53, 57, 65, 74.

  Portraits, i., 33.

  Portuguese in the East, i., 11-34, 36-41, 45, 48, 49, 57, 58, 64,
    71, 84, 90, 91, 102, 103, 120, 127, 134-136, 138, 139, 142, 145,
    147, 153, 154, 158, 159, 164, 166, 167, 174-176, 179, 181, 182,
    196-199, 208, 209, 221, 228, 248-251, 255, 261-265, 269-271, 278.

  Post-houses, ii., 1, 2.

  Potatoes, ii., 124, 317.

  Poverty, i., 77, 87, 395; ii., 162.

  _Powhatan_, United States ship, ii., 297, 324, 336.

  Prayers for the dead, i., 344.

  _Preble_, American ship, ii., 265-269, 271, 272.

  Precious metals, Export of, ii., 112, 113.

  Presents, i., 217, 367, 368; ii., 59, 85, 96, 97, 104, 141, 175.

  Pring, Martin, i., 237-239.

  Printing, ii., 157.

  Prisons, ii., 217, 220-222.

  Protestants in Japanese missions.
    _See_ Missionaries, Protestant.

  Provinces, as found by Portuguese, i., 57, 58;
    division by “Circuits, “vii., 343.

  Purcell, ——, ii., 345.

  Purchas, ——, i., 165, 177, 184, 220, 225, 232, 236, 240; ii., 349, 354.

  “Pure Shintō,” i., 66.


  “Quarterly Review,” ii., 247.


  Radishes, i., 286, 383; ii., 215.

  Raffles, Sir Stamford, i., 272; ii., 110-112, 195, 196, 202, 208-210.

  Rain-coats, i., 375; ii., 143.

  Rain-maker, Priestly, i., 276.

  Rank, The distinction of, i., 60.

  Rationalists.
    _See_ Jūdo.

  _Rebecca_, American ship, ii., 206.

  “Recollections of Japan,” ii., 194, 195.

  Reed, ——, ii., 345.

  Regamey, ——, ii., 345.

  “Relation du Japon,” i., 224.

  “Religions of Japan, The,” i., 74; ii., 344.

  Religious sects and beliefs, i., 65-74, 138, 139, 194, 195, 207, 261,
    291; ii., 65.

  Rémusat, Abel, i., 70; ii., 146, 165, 169.

  Resanoff, Count, ii., 196-199.

  _Rhus succedanea_, ii., 125.

  _Rhus vernix_, i., 76; ii., 125.

  Rice, i., 76, 257, 343; ii., 47, 59, 136, 159.

  Riess, Dr. L., i., 178, 240.

  Rikord, Captain, ii., 226-243.

  Riordan, R., and Takayanagi, T., ii., 344.

  Rivers, i., 384, 385; ii., 50, 63.

  Road-books, i., 376; ii., 13.

  _Roanoke_, U. S. steamer, ii., 336.

  Rodriguez, Father, i., 32, 60, 63, 133, 136, 156, 158, 162, 165.

  Roofs, i., 339, 392; ii., 52, 130, 303, 306, 321.

  Rowing, Method of, i., 389.

  _Rubia cordata_, ii., 124.

  Rundall, ——, i., 225, 230, 240.

  Russian American Company, ii., 203.

  Russian relations with Japan, ii., 190-192, 196-199, 203, 212-244, 323.

  Ryōzayemon, a Russian prisoner, ii., 226-229.


  Saddles, i., 371, 377.

  Sadono-Kami, president of Prince Hideyori’s council, i., 201.

  Saga, capital of Hizen, ii., 46, 47, 129.

  Sagami, Cape, ii., 283.

  _Saguer_, a rare tree, ii., 11.

  _Saikaidō_, i., 381.

  Sakai, i., 95, 118, 215; ii., 49.

  _Sakana_, ii., 38.

  _Sake_, i., 76, 216, 343; ii., 54, 324.

  Sakhalin, i., 123, 124, 265; ii., 212.

  Salt butter as a remedy, ii., 127.

  Salutation, Ceremony of, i., 210.

  Samisen, i., 212; ii., 315.

  Sancian Island, i., 13.

  “San Francisco Herald,” ii., 313.

  _San Jacinto_, American steamer, ii., 325.

  _San Philip_, Spanish galleon, i., 151, 152, 154, 159, 160, 180.

  Santvoort, Melichor von, i., 203, 244.

  Sao harbor, ii., 70.

  _Saramang_, English frigate, ii., 259.

  _Saratoga_, American sloop, ii., 282.

  Saris, Captain John, i., 196, 207-225, 229, 232, 343.

  Satow, ——, i., 66, 86, 135; ii., 354.

  Sawaas (or Sowas), i., 330, 344.

  Sayer, agent of English East India Company, i., 230.

  Scherer, J. A. B., ii., 344.

  Scheuchzer, Dr. I. G., i., 290.

  Schools, ii., 135.

  Science, Study of, i., 77.

  Scurvy, ii., 229.

  Sea-weeds, Edible, ii., 213.

  Segaki, ii., 26.

  Seimei, and the table of unfortunate days, ii., 41-44.

  Seminary at Goa, i., 41, 49, 55.

  Serfs, i., 59.

  Serqueyra, Father Louis (Bishop of Japan), i., 227, 242.

  Servants, i., 354; ii., 177.

  _Sesamum orientale_, ii., 125.

  Settsu-no-Kami, governor of Nagasaki, i., 347; ii., 100.

  “Seven Gods of Happiness,” i., 359.

  Shaëp, Captain, i., 263, 265.

  Shigemi, S., ii., 344.

  _Shikimi_ (anise-tree), ii., 126.
    _See also Hanashikimi_.

  Shikoku Island, i., 123, 124.
    _Same as_ Sikoku Island.

  Shimabara Fortress, i., 94, 248, 261.

  Shimada, ii., 71.

  Shimo, i., 27, 57, 93, 97, 98, 119, 124, 125, 145, 164, 213, 228.

  Shimoda, town and river, ii., 301, 302, 305, 316-324, 326.

  Shimonoseki, i., 368, 381; ii., 48, 49.

  Shinagawa, ii., 75, 247, 248.

  Shintō, i., 66-70, 138, 139, 342, 359, 360, 399; ii., 65.

  Shintō clergy, i., 74, 342, 359, 360, 398; ii., 65.

  Shintō temples (Miya), i., 67, 342, 399; ii., 65.

  Shiota, ii., 129.
    _See also_ Shiwota.

  Ships and Harbor Guard, Nagasaki, i., 312, 348.

  Ships and boats, i., 77, 387-390; ii., 72.

  Shōgun-Sama, i., 230, 247.

  Shōguns, The, i., 58; ii., 158, 166-173.

  Shooting of birds, ii., 308.

  Shops, i., 394; ii., 11, 52, 77, 247, 319-323.

  Shotten, Timothy, i., 169.

  “Sidney Gazette,” ii., 258.

  Siebold, Dr. Philipp Franz von, i., 8, 9, 31, 33, 123, 338, 351;
    ii., 43, 46, 125, 149, 237, 248, 250-254, 274, 310.

  Signs, ii., 320, 323.

  Sikoku Island, i., 57, 119.
    _Same as_ Shikoku.

  Silk, i., 76, 101, 321.

  Sitting posture, ii., 133, 303.

  Sloane, Sir Hans, i., 290.

  Small-pox, i., 400.

  _Smilax China_, ii., 124.

  Smoke-holes, i., 3.

  Smoking articles, ii., 37, 38.

  Smuggling, i., 300, 314, 328, 332, 333, 353, 397; ii., 115, 116, 275.

  Soap, ii., 126.

  Soil, i., 76.

  Soldiers, ii., 223, 224.
    _See also_ Armies and Soldiery.

  Solis, Jean de, i., 135, 136, 142, 143.

  Sotelo, Father Louis, i., 203-205, 245, 246.

  “Soul of the Far East, The,” ii., 344.

  Sowaas.
    _See_ Sowas.

  Sowas (_or_ Sawaas), i., 330, 344, 377.

  Soy, ii., 13, 119, 159.

  Spanish in the East, i., 56, 134-136, 142, 143, 147, 148, 151-154,
    159, 160, 166, 167, 179, 180, 191, 197, 199, 202-204, 208, 209,
    221, 228, 237, 241, 261, 270, 271.

  Spex, Jacob, i., 197, 198, 202, 203, 206.

  Spinola, ——, i., 241.

  _Spirea_, ii., 142.

  Springs, ii., 46, 129.

  Spy Guard, Nagasaki, i., 312, 348.

  State’s Island, i., 124, 265.

  Sterling, Admiral, ii., 323.

  Stevens, Thomas, ii., 350, 351.

  Stewart, Captain, ii., 193-196.

  St. Michael, patron saint of Japan, i., 98.

  Stockings, ii., 143.

  Story, ——, ii., 351.

  “Story of Japan,” ii., 158, 344.

  Street-government of cities, i., 188, 349-353, 356, 361-363;
    ii., 51, 80, 330.

  “Suburb of Yedo, A,” ii., 345.

  Sugar, ii., 117, 275.

  Sun-Goddess (Tenshō-daijin), i., 66, 67, 69, 224, 357-359.

  “Sunrise Stories,” ii., 344.

  Superstitions, i., 48, 74, 207, 401; ii., 68, 223.

  Suruga, i., 163, 186, 190, 217; ii., 71.

  _Susquehanna_, American frigate, ii., 282, 291, 314, 315.

  Suwa, Festivals of, i., 296, 356-365.

  Suwa, Temple of, i., 356, 357.

  Suyematsu, ——, ii., 345.

  Sweetmeats, ii., 13, 29, 331.

  Swine, ii., 138.

  Swords, i., 59, 106, 185, 210, 290, 349, 369; ii., 149, 155, 168, 243.


  Taikō-Sama. _See_ Hashiba.

  Taikō-Sama, Castle of, i., 118; ii., 54.

  Taikō-Sama, Temple and Tomb of, i., 193.

  Takayanagi, T., and Riordan, R., ii., 344.

  “Tales of Old Japan,” ii., 344.

  Tanners, i., 334, 349.

  Tartars, i., 5-10.

  Tashima, Legend of, ii., 42.

  Taxes, i., 258, 355, 356.

  Tea, i., 76, 216; ii., 13, 14, 128, 158, 220.

  Teisuke, Murakami, ii., 221, 223, 226, 239.

  Temples, i., 67, 68, 71, 161, 193, 194, 216, 218, 222, 275, 342,
    356, 357, 397-399; ii., 59, 69, 75, 79, 104-108, 304, 307, 316.

  “Temples of Riches,” i., 275.

  Tennōji, ii., 54.

  Tenriū, River, i., 385.

  Tenshō-daijin.
    _See_ Sun-Goddess.

  Tenza, The, i., 164.

  _Tera_ (Buddhist temples), i., 71, 275, 342, 397, 398; ii., 65, 304.

  Terazawa, i., 145, 146, 156.

  Theatrical representations, i., 77, 212, 213, 360-365; ii., 53, 160.

  Thevenot, ——, i., 243, 261, 265; ii., 354.

  Threshing, ii., 158.

  Thunberg, Charles Peter, i., 60, 290, 376, 391, 392; ii., 16, 114-163,
    169, 210, 213, 254.

  _Thuya dolebrata_, ii., 141.

  _Tiger_, English ship, ii., 353, 354.

  Tillage of the soil, i., 76, 381, 386, 387; ii., 134, 136-138, 317.

  Time, Division of, i., 351.

  Time-measurers, ii., 126, 251.

  Titsingh, Isaac, i., 59, 79, 98, 230, 240, 257, 276, 281, 351, 357,
    376; ii., 43, 81, 85, 112, 146, 147, 163-189.

  Tobacco culture, ii., 123.

  _Tōkaidō_, i., 382; ii., 15, 23.

  _Toko_, or cupboard, ii., 4, 7, 178.


  _Tokowaki_, or side cupboard, ii., 5.

  Tolls, i., 385.

  “Tomb of Ears,” ii., 108.

  Tomb of Taikō-Sama, i., 193, 194.

  Torey (Stewart, Captain), ii., 196.

  Torment of the Fosse, i., 246, 247.

  Torres, Cosme de, i., 52, 54-56, 87, 91, 97.

  _Toshitoku_, i., 359.

  Towns and villages, i., 394, 395; ii., 57, 74.

  “Townsend Harris,” ii., 325.

  Toyohashi (Yoshida), ii., 70.

  Toyotomi Hideyoshi, ii., 54.
    _See also_ Hashiba.

  Trade, i., 77; ii., 202, 274, 275.

  Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society, London, i., 376.

  Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, i., 32, 66, 86, 117,
    135, 145, 178, 204, 226, 257, 290, 352, 359; ii., 7, 77, 112, 144,
    149, 154, 174, 183, 199, 206, 210, 315, 346, 354.

  Translations, i., 121, 122, 158, 222, 223, 280; ii., 122, 123, 164,
    165, 210, 222.

  Transportation in the interior, i., 216, 347, 371-385.

  Travellers on the highways, ii., 15-36, 41, 42, 45, 58, 329.

  Trays, ii., 333.

  Trial by torture, i., 353, 354.

  Trials, i., 78, 355; ii., 218.

  Trigault, Nicholas, i., 232.

  Tsadanil trees, ii., 57.

  _Tsubaki_, ii., 125.

  Tsuchi Yama, ii., 69.

  _Tsuitachi_, or first day of the month, ii., 58.

  Tsuni Yoshi, Emperor, ii., 85.

  Turks, i., 16.


  Ukondono, i., 117-119, 129, 229.

  Umenoki, ii., 68.


  “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,” ii., 344.

  Unicorns’ horns, ii., 117, 118.

  United States’ relations with Japan, ii., 193-196, 206, 255-258,
    260-273, 276-339.

  Uraga, i., 218.

  Utensils and dishes, ii., 8.


  _Vaccinia_, ii., 142.

  Valignani, Father Alexander, i., 100-103, 121, 126-136, 138, 143,
    162, 165; ii., 349.

  Van Braam, ——, ii., 164.

  _Vandalia_, ii., 293.

  Van Linschoten, John Huigen, ii., 351, 352.

  Van Sturlen, director of the Company, ii., 250.

  Varnish-tree, i., 76; ii., 125.

  Vasco da Gama, i., 11.

  Vault, for fire protection, ii., 52.

  Vaz, Alvares, i., 49, 50.

  Vega, Lopo de, Spanish poet, i., 231.

  Vegetables, i., 76; ii., 124, 159, 317.

  Verhagen’s fleet (Dutch), i., 169-177.

  Verhœven fleet (Dutch), i., 182, 196, 198.

  _Viburna_, ii., 142.

  _Vicia faba_, ii., 124.

  Vilela, Father Gaspard, i., 89, 94, 95, 97, 133, 165; ii., 189.

  _Vincennes_, American frigate, ii., 261-265, 283.

  Vivero, Don Rodrigo de, governor of Manila, i., 180, 185-261, 265,
    266; ii., 118, 355.

  Volcanoes, ii., 46, 170, 173, 305.

  “Voyage around the World, A,” ii., 203.

  “Voyages au Nord,” i., 250, 254, 261, 265, 266; ii., 118, 355.

  “Voyages Curieuse,” i., 261.

  “Voyages des Indes,” i., 243, 252, 254, 261; ii., 355.


  Waardenaar, Heer, ii., 207, 208.

  Wada Iga-no-kami, i., 96, 97.

  Wadenaar, Heer, ii., 195.

  Waganaar, of the Dutch East India Company, i., 265, 266.

  Walnuts, ii., 144.

  Warm drinks, i., 216.

  Water-clocks, ii., 251.

  Water supply, i., 293, 343; ii., 54.

  Weapons, ii., 149.

  Webster, Daniel, ii., 276-281.

  Weddell, Admiral, i., 255.

  “Wee Ones of Japan, The,” 344.

  Weights and measures, i., 23, 59, 249, 272.

  Whale fishery, i., 255.

  Wheat, i., 76, 216.

  Wheeled vehicles, ii., 137, 138.

  Whiskey, ii., 206.

  Whiting, Lieut., ii., 302.

  Whitney, Dr., ii., 144.

  Williams, S. W., ii., 255, 258, 284, 310, 318-323.

  Windows, i., 391; ii., 4, 130, 131, 322.

  Wine, ii., 206.

  Wittert, Admiral, i., 197.

  Women, i., 98, 120, 127, 149, 161, 211, 212, 214, 243, 259, 260, 279,
    292, 340, 341, 345, 361; ii., 23, 24, 29, 30, 47, 58, 70, 91, 96,
    97, 120-122, 127, 153-156, 161, 167, 169, 174-183, 211, 225,
    231-233, 242, 249, 304, 315, 329, 330.

  Wormwood, ii., 125, 146.

  Written language, i., 77, 78.


  Xavier, Francis, i., 38, 39, 41-43, 46-55, 64, 71, 72, 81-88, 98;
    ii., 353.


  Yakushi, patron of physicians, ii., 68.

  Yamabu.
    _See_ Yamabushi.

  _Yamabushi_, or mountain priests, i., 74; ii., 23-25, 72.

  Yamaguchi, capital of Nagato, i., 82, 89, 90, 96.

  Yams, ii., 124.

  Yebisu, patron of fishermen, i., 359.

  _Yebumi_ (figure-treading, _which see_), i., 352.

  Yedo, i., 163, 186, 187, 218, 230, 265, 380; ii., 76-83, 324, 326, 330.

  “Yedo Kagami” (“Mirror of Yedo”), i., 257.

  Yezo Island.
    _See_ Matsumaye Island.

  Yodo, ii., 50, 57.

  Yokkaichi, ii., 69.

  Yokohama.
    _See_ Kanagawa.

  Yoritomo, Prince, ii., 28-30.

  Yoshida, ii., 70.

  Yoshimune, i., 119, 120, 125, 127, 144, 145.

  “Young Japan” (Black), ii., 345.

  “Young Japan” (Scherer), ii., 344.


  Zelandia, Fort, in Formosa, i., 262, 302.

  _Zeni_, i., 372, 373; ii., 309.

  Zipangu, i., 1, 3-6, 14.




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FOOTNOTES:

[1] It is also used as a toilet-box, in which to keep combs, brushes,
etc.

[2] See Conder’s illustrated paper in vol. xvii of the Transactions of
the Asiatic Society of Japan.—EDR.

[3] The most recent visitors to Japan all agree in representing the
common tea of the country as an inferior article, not suited for
exportation.

[4] These great retinues are thus accounted for by Thunberg: “As both
the monarch himself and all the princes of the country are clothed and
dress their hair in the same manner as the rest of the inhabitants,
and being destitute of thrones, jewels, and other like paraphernalia,
cannot be so distinguished from others, they have adopted the expedient
of exhibiting themselves on journeys and festive occasions according to
their condition in life, and the dignity of their respective offices,
with a great number of people, officers, and attendants hovering about
them.” The statement already quoted from Caron (see vol. i, p. 259) as
to the numbers composing these princely retinues, is much less than
that given above, and probably nearer the truth.

[The numbers of the retinues which Kämpfer gives are too large.—K. M.]

[5] This is the Sanscrit.

[6] The letters of the Jesuit missionaries contain accounts of Buddhist
devotees who went so far as to drown or otherwise destroy themselves.
Kämpfer, and the writers since his time, make no mention of such
extreme fanaticism, which, however, is a natural outgrowth from the
doctrine of the Buddhists.

[7] Great numbers of the Japanese musicians, as Kämpfer tells us
in another place, are blind men, who constitute a sort of order or
society which boasts as its legendary founder a certain general of the
family of the Heiji, who, at the time of the civil war which ended
in the destruction of that family, was taken prisoner by Yoritomo.
Notwithstanding repeated attempts at escape, he was very kindly
treated, and was pressed to enter into the service of his captor. But,
not being able to look upon the destroyer of the Heiji without an
irresistible desire to kill him, not to be outdone in generosity, he
plucked out his eyes and presented them to Yoritomo on a plate!

There is another—more ancient, but less numerous—order of the blind,
composed exclusively of ecclesiastical persons, and claiming as its
founder a legendary prince, who cried himself blind at the death of his
beautiful mistress.

The blind are numerous, and disorders of the eyes are very common in
Japan.

[8] Froez, in one of his letters, defines this Japanese word as
signifying a kind of salted vegetable, like olives. It seems to include
all kinds of refreshment occasionally offered to visitors.

[9] The total expense of the entire journey, including the presents to
the emperor and others, is estimated by Kämpfer at twenty thousand rix
dollars, equivalent to about the same number of our dollars.

[10] The fox is regarded by the Japanese as a sort of divinity, though,
according to Siebold, they seem in doubt whether to reckon it a god or
devil. If a Japanese is placed in circumstances of doubt or difficulty,
he sets out a platter of rice and beans as a sacrifice to his fox; and
if the next day any of it is gone, that is regarded as a favorable
omen. Wonderful stories (equal to any of our spirit-rapping miracles)
are told of the doings of these foxes. Titsingh gives the following
by way of specimen: The grandfather of his friend, the imperial
treasurer of Nagasaki, and who had in his time filled the same office,
despatched one day a courier to Yedo with very important letters for
the councillors of state. A few days after he discovered that one of
the most important of the letters had been accidentally left out of the
package,—a forgetfulness which exposed him to great disgrace. In his
despair he recurred to his fox and offered him a sacrifice. The next
morning he saw, to his great satisfaction, that some of it had been
eaten; after which, upon going into his cabinet, the letter which he
had forgotten to send was nowhere to be found. This caused him great
uneasiness, till he received a message from his agent at Yedo, who
informed him that, upon opening the box which contained the despatches,
the lock of it appeared to have been forced by a letter pressed in
between the box and its cover from without,—the very same letter, as it
proved, left behind at Nagasaki. The more intelligent, says Titsingh,
laugh at this superstition, but the great body of the people have firm
faith in it. There are in Japan, according to Siebold, two species of
foxes, very much like the ordinary ones of Europe and America, and,
from the immunity which they enjoy, great nuisances. The white fox, of
which the skin is much prized, is found only in the Kurile Islands.

[11] Of these pearls Kämpfer says, in another place, that they are
found almost everywhere about Kiūshiū in oysters and several other sea
shells. Everybody is at liberty to fish for them. Formerly the natives
had little or no value for them till they were sought for by the
Chinese. The Japanese pretend, as to one particular kind, that when put
into a box full of a peculiar sort of complexion-powder made of another
shell, one or two young pearls will grow out at the sides, and when
they come to maturity, as they do in two or three years, will drop off;
but Kämpfer, having never seen this phenomenon, is not willing to vouch
for its reality.

[12] The same tree Kämpfer found on his return (May 6) in full
blossom, and a very beautiful sight. It was noticed as still standing
in 1826, by Siebold, who found it by measurement to be fifty feet in
circumference.

[13] Caron also speaks of these springs, some of which he describes as
intermittent. Some are boiling hot, and their waters had been used, as
we have seen, in the torture of the Catholics. They are all found in a
volcanic mountain, having several craters which eject black sand and
smoke. In the interior of the province of Higo, on the opposite shore
of the gulf of Shimabara, is another volcano. The province of Satsuma
is entirely volcanic, and off its southern extremity is an island that
burns incessantly.—_Klaproth_, from Japanese authorities, “_Asiatic
Journal_,” vol. xxx.

[14] On Kämpfer’s second journey to Yedo (1692), the second night was
passed at Kurume, which they reached by crossing the bay of Shimabara
in boats, thus leaving the principality of Ōmura and the city of Saga
on their left. The next day at noon they struck into the road followed
on the first journey.

[15] “Some years ago,” says Kämpfer, “our East India Company sent over
from Batavia a Casuar (a large East India bird, who would swallow
stones and hot coals) as a present to the emperor. This bird having
the sad ill luck not to please our rigid censors, the governors of
Nagasaki, and we having thereupon been ordered to send him back to
Batavia, a rich Japanese assured us that if he could have obtained
leave to buy him, he would have willingly given a thousand taels for
him, as being sure within a year’s time to get double that money only
by showing him at Ōsaka.” The mermaids exhibited in Europe and America
to the great profit of enterprising showmen, have been of Japanese
manufacture.

[16] A mistake for Yamashiro.—EDR.

[17] Name of a town on Lake Biwa.—EDR.

[18] The _Aratame_ is a sort of an inquisition into the life and family
of every inhabitant, the number of his children and domestics, the sect
he professes or the temples he belongs to, made very punctually, once
every year, in every city and district, by commissioners appointed for
this purpose.

[19] The worshippers of Amida were the most numerous, amounting
to 159,113. The other principal sects had, respectively, 99,728,
99,016, 54,586. Caron had noticed and mentioned this division into
twelve sects, or observances. He states, and other subsequent authors
have repeated, that, notwithstanding this division, they have no
controversies or religious quarrels; but this does not agree with the
accounts of the Catholic missionaries. Every resident of Miyako, except
the Shintō priests, and, perhaps, the household of the Dairi, would
seem to belong to some Buddhist sect.

[20] According to Klaproth, following Japanese authorities, it is
seventy-two and one-half English miles long, and twenty-two and
one-quarter at its greatest breadth. [The lake Biwa is meant.]

[21] Kōshi is the Japanese name for Confucius, who, however, can
scarcely be meant here.—EDR.

[22] Fuji-no-yama, in the province of Suruga, on the borders of Kai,
is an enormous pyramid, generally covered with snow, detached from
and southerly of the great central chain of Nippon. It is the largest
and most noted of the volcanoes of Japan. In the year 1707 there was
an eruption from it which covered all the neighborhood with masses
of rock, red-hot sand, and ashes, which latter fell, even in Yedo,
some inches deep.—_Klaproth_ (from Japanese authorities), in “Asiatic
Journal,” vol. xxxii.

[23] A mistake for Enoshima.—EDR.

[24] At the date of these travels, and indeed at a much later period
similar exhibitions might have been seen in Europe.

[25] See papers on Yedo in vols. i and vii of the “Transactions of the
Asiatic Society of Japan.”—EDR.

[26] One of these Japanese plans is published as a frontispiece to
Titsingh’s “Illustrations of Japan.” This plan would seem to embrace
only what Kämpfer speaks of, further on, as “the palace itself.”

[27] The 23d a considerable shock of an earthquake was felt. The
weather that day was excessively hot. The next day it was very cold,
with snow.

[28] The reigning emperor was Tsuni Yoshi, who had succeeded to the
empire in 1681, the fourth in succession from Gongen-Sama, the founder
of the dynasty. The Japanese accounts, according to Titsingh, give him
but a bad character.

[29] _Sen_ is not a hundred, but a thousand. According to Klaproth
(_Annals des Dairi_, p. 184), _ken_ does not signify a mat, as Kämpfer
translates it (though mats were made of that length), but a space
between columns. It was a measure of length divided into six Japanese
feet, but equal to seven feet four inches and a half, Rhineland measure.

[30] In his account of his second visit to Yedo, a year later, Kämpfer
gives the following account of this second audience: “Soon after we
came in, and had, after the usual observances, seated ourselves in
the place assigned us, Bingo-sama welcomed us in the emperor’s name,
and then desired us to sit upright, to take off our cloaks, to tell
him our names and age, to stand up, to walk, to turn about, to sing
songs, to compliment one another, to be angry, to invite one another to
dinner, to converse one with another, to discourse in a familiar way
like father and son, to show how two friends or man and wife compliment
or take leave of one another, to play with children, to carry them
about in our arms, and to do many more things of a like nature. They
made us kiss one another like man and wife, which the ladies, by their
laughter, showed themselves to be particularly well pleased with. It
was already four in the afternoon when we left the hall of audience,
after having been exercised after this manner for two hours and a half.”

[31] This is what Kämpfer, in another place, describes as a sort of
round cakes, which the Japanese had learned to make of the Portuguese,
as big as a common hen’s egg, and sometimes filled within with bean
flour and sugar.

[32] See the character given of Settsu-no-kami, as a harsh enemy of the
Dutch, or at least, a strict disciplinarian over them; vol. i 347, 348.

[33] “Annals des Empereurs du Japan,” p. 405, note, and in the “Asiatic
Journal” for September, 1831.

[34] The history of this image, derived from the same source, is given
in a note on p. 193. The roof of the temple is supported on ninety-two
columns, each upwards of six feet in diameter.

[35] In one thousand parts, eight hundred and fifty-four were pure
gold. The pure metal in our American coins is nine hundred parts in one
thousand; or, in the old phraseology, they are twenty-one carats and
twelve grains fine.

[36] Having been discovered by Sir Stamford Raffles among the public
documents at Batavia, he published an abstract of it in the appendix B
to his “History of Java.”

[37] Yet Pinto, whose knowledge of Japan preceded the time of Nobunaga,
represents silver as very abundant there; and, indeed, it seems to have
been this abundance which first attracted the Portuguese trade. On the
whole, one does not derive a very high idea, from this tract, of the
extent or correctness of the knowledge possessed by the Japanese of
their own history, even the more recent periods of it.

[See Dr. Knox’s paper on Arai Hakuseki in vol. xxx of the “Transactions
of the Asiatic Society of Japan.”—EDR.]

[38] This was a considerable improvement upon the state of things in
the time of Xavier, when every third vessel was expected to be lost.
See p. 51.

[39] Kämpfer had seen the ginseng cultivated in gardens in Japan, but
it was not supposed to possess the virtues of the Chinese article.
Father Jontoux, one of the Jesuit missionaries in China, employed by
the emperor in preparing a map of the region north of the great wall,
had an opportunity to see the ginseng growing wild. He sent home,
in 1711, a full account of it, with drawings (which may be found in
“Voyages au Nord,” vol. iv), and suggested, from the similarity of the
climate, that the same plant might be found in Canada, as it soon was
by the Jesuit missionaries there.

[40] This sauce, used in great quantities in Japan, and exported to
Batavia by the Dutch, whence it has become known throughout the East
Indies and also in Europe, is made from the soy bean (_Dolichos Soia_),
extensively used by the Japanese in the making of soup. The soy is
prepared as follows: the beans are boiled till they become rather soft,
when an equal quantity of pounded barley or wheat is added. These
ingredients being mixed, the compound is set away for twenty-four hours
in a warm place to ferment. An equal quantity of salt is then added,
and twice and a half as much water. It is stirred several times a day
for several days, and then stands well covered for two or three months,
when the liquid portion is decanted, strained, and put in wooden casks.
It is of a brown color, improves with age, but varies in quality,
according to the province where it is made. The Dutch of Deshima cork
up the better qualities in glass bottles, boiling the liquor first in
an iron kettle, to prevent fermentation, by which it is liable to be
spoiled.

[41] The murdering of the children may be explained by the following
passage from one of the letters of Cocks, the English factor, written
at Hirado, in December, 1614: “James Turner, the fiddling youth, left
a wench with child here, but the w—e, the mother, killed it so soon as
it was born, although I gave her two taels in plate (silver) before to
nourish it, because she should not kill it, it being an ordinary thing
here.”

[42] Cocks also had noticed their existence a century and a half
earlier.

[43] This was doubtless the lexicon printed at Amakusa in 1595. See
note, p. 158.

[44] A precedent of a similar permission, formerly granted to the
medical men of the factory, was found, but, upon a critical examination
of Thunberg’s commission, he appeared to be a surgeon, whereas he to
whom permission had formerly been granted had been surgeon’s mate, and
it took three months to get over this difficulty, and to persuade the
Japanese that these two officers were in substance the same.

[45] This species, the _Dioscorea Japonica_ (confounded sometimes with
the sweet potato), has been lately introduced into the United States.

[46] Kämpfer who describes the Camellia under the Japanese name of
_Tsubaki_, speaks of it as a large shrub, almost a tree. Thunberg
represents it as attaining the size of a large tree, exceedingly common
in groves and gardens, and a very great favorite, as well for its
polished, evergreen leaves as from the size, beauty, and variety of
its blossoms, which appear from April to October, single and red in
the wild ones, but double and of several colors, red, purple, white,
etc., in the cultivated varieties, of which the Japanese assured
Kämpfer there were several hundreds. Siebold describes the wild kind as
a small tree, growing in clumps and thickets, often with many shoots
from the same root, from fifteen to twenty feet high; while a much
larger size is attained by the cultivated kinds. The name of Camellia
was given to the genus by Linnæus, in honor of George Joseph Kamel,
a Jesuit missionary, who sent to Ray descriptions of the plants of
the Philippine Islands, published by him at the end of his “History
of Plants.” The single-flowering variety was introduced into England,
about 1739, by Lord Petre probably from China, of which it is a native,
in common with quite a number of plants, to which the specific epithet
_Japanese_ has been applied. As late as 1788 (as appears from Curtis’
“Botanical Magazine,” vol. i) it was very rare and costly. Down to that
time it had been treated as a stove-plant, but soon after, on Curtis’
suggestion, it was introduced into conservatories, of which it soon
became the pride, and was even found hardy enough to bear the winter in
the open air. Previous to 1806 a number of varieties were imported from
China; many others were produced in Europe, and already by 1825 these
varieties had become very numerous (see “Botanical Magazine,” vols. xl
and lvi). The _Camellia sasankwa_ is smaller, with smaller leaves and
flowers, very closely resembling the tea-plant; and, in packing their
teas, the Chinese are in the habit of putting some of the blossoms into
the chests. It is extensively cultivated for its oil, in China as well
as in Japan.

[47] The Japanese paper, as well for writing and printing as for the
household uses to which it is so extensively put, is manufactured from
the bark of the young twigs of the paper mulberry (_Morus papyrifira_).
Kämpfer has given a particular account of it in the appendix to his
work. That account, which, now that so many experiments are on foot for
the manufacture of paper, may suggest some useful hints, is abridged by
Thunberg as follows:

“After the tree has shed its leaves in the month of December, they cut
off the young shoots about three feet in length, which they tie up
in bundles and boil in a lye of ashes, standing inverted in a copper
kettle till the bark is so shrunk that half an inch of the woody part
is seen bare at the ends. If the twigs grow dry before they can be
boiled, they are first soaked in water for four-and-twenty hours. When
sufficiently boiled, they are taken out and the bark cut lengthwise
and stripped off. After being soaked in water for three hours, the
exterior black skin and the green part beneath it is scraped off with
a knife, and the bark is then sorted into qualities; that which is
a full year’s growth makes the best paper, and the less mature an
inferior quality. Thus prepared and sorted, it is again boiled in a
clear lye, being perpetually stirred, and fresh lye supplied to make
up for the evaporation; and this process is continued till the bark
is dissolved, as it were, separating into flocks and fibres. It must
then be washed,—a process requiring care and judgment, as, if not
carried far enough, the paper will be coarse, and if too far, thin and
slazy. This is done in a running stream, by means of a sieve containing
the material, which is perpetually stirred till it is diluted into a
delicate, soft pap. For the finer kinds this washing is repeated, a
piece of linen being substituted for the sieve, to prevent the finer
parts from being carried away. After being washed, it is beaten with
sticks of hard wood, on a wooden table, till it is brought to a pulp,
which if put into water will dissolve and disperse like meal.

“It is then mixed in a tub with a clammy infusion, obtained by soaking
rice in cold water, and with another mucilaginous infusion, obtained
in the like manner from the root of Oreni (_Hibiscus manihot_). This
mixture, upon which much depends, and the proportions of which vary
with the season of the year, succeeds best in a narrow tub, and
requires perpetual stirring. The whole is then put into a larger tub,
from which the sheets are taken out and put between mats made of
delicate grass straw, and laid one upon another in heaps, being pressed
at first lightly, but gradually harder and harder, till the water is
squeezed out. They are then laid upon a board to dry in the sun; after
which they are packed in bundles for sale and use.

“For the coarser kinds of paper other sorts of bark are sometimes used.

“The Japanese paper is very close and strong. It will bear being
twisted into ropes, and is occasionally used even for dresses.”

[48] Caron, whose opportunities of knowledge upon this point were
much superior to those of Thunberg or any subsequent observer, is
very explicit upon this point. “The parents educate their children
with great care. They are not forever bawling in their ears, and they
never use them roughly. When they cry they show a wonderful patience
in quieting them, knowing well that young children are not of an age
to profit by reprimands. This method succeeds so well, that Japanese
children, ten or twelve years old, behave with all the discretion and
propriety of grown people. They are not sent to school till they are
seven or eight years old, and then they are not forced to study things
for which they have no inclination.”

[49] In Kämpfer’s time no personal intercourse was allowed with those
of whom articles were bought at Ōsaka, Miyako, and Yedo. In this
respect there would seem to have been a relaxation.

[50] Kämpfer had noticed similar three-wheeled carts, made very low,
and employed in drawing stone from a quarry. In unloading, the single
wheel was taken off, when the cart formed an inclined plane.

[51] Kämpfer says that the European apple-tree is unknown in Japan,
and that they have only one kind of pears, such as we call winter
pears. The fruit grows to a great size, but must be cooked to be eaten.
Cherry-trees are cultivated only for the flowers, as apricots and plums
often are, the blossoms being brought by art to be as big as roses.
Golownin, however, ate apples in northern Japan, though of an inferior
quality.

[52] Kämpfer says there are two species peculiar to Japan, the acorns
of which are boiled and eaten.

[53] Later accounts represent cloth or cotton stockings, or socks,
as frequently worn in cold weather, resembling mittens, in having
a separate accommodation for the great toe, so as to permit the
introduction between that and the others of the shoe-holding strap.

[54] See paper by Dr. Whitney, in vol. xii of the “Transactions of the
Asiatic Society of Japan.”—EDR.

[55] There have not been wanting attempts to introduce acupuncture into
European practice. See a sensible article on this subject by Rémusat
(“Nov. Mélanges Asiat.,” vol. i), in which he gives an analysis of a
Japanese treatise on acupuncture, which, with a translation of it, was
brought home by Titsingh.

[56] Kämpfer treats at length on the acupuncture and moxa, and gives in
his appendix a translation of a Japanese treatise on the parts to be
selected to be burned, according to the object to be accomplished.

[57] Of the Dosha powder, to which the Japanese ascribe singular
effects, M. Titsingh has given a curious account. “Illustrations,” p.
283. It was the invention of _Kōbō_, a great saint and sage, who, by
profound meditation on the writings both of his own sect and others,
had discovered that the great scourges of mankind are four; namely,
_Jigoku_, hell; _Gaki_, hungry demon, woman; _Chikushō_, the man with a
perverse heart; and _Shura_, war.

[58] From Thunberg’s account of the arms of the Japanese, they cannot
be regarded as very formidable soldiers. He mentions bows and arrows,
scymitars, halberts, and guns. Their bows are very large and their
arrows long, like those of the Chinese. The bowman, in order to shoot,
places himself on one knee, a position which renders it impossible to
discharge his arrows with any great rapidity. Guns were not ordinarily
employed. Thunberg saw them, apparently matchlocks, only as articles of
show in the houses of the imperial officers, displayed upon a stand in
the audience chamber. The few cannon at Nagasaki, which once belonged
to the Portuguese, were discharged only once in seven years, the
Japanese knowing little or not at all the proper management of them,
and fixing the match to a long pole, so as to touch them off at a safe
distance. Their longer swords are broad-backed, a little curved, a yard
long, and of excellent temper; the hilts somewhat roundish and flat,
furnished with a round substantial guard without any bow. The scabbard
is thick and rather flat, made of wood, and sometimes covered with
shagreen and lackered. The shorter sword is straight. These swords are
costly and rated at a high value.

From a Japanese work, Siebold states their method of making
sword-blades: “The blades, forged out of good bar-steel, are plastered
over with a paste of potash, porcelain clay, and powdered charcoal, and
dried in the sun. They are next exposed to the fire and heated till
the mass assumes a white hue. The glowing blades are then plunged into
luke-warm water, three-fifths boiling to two-fifths cold, and cooled
gradually. Often the edge only is heated, and then the cooling is with
cold water. The reforging of old blades is not uncommon.” Of the two
swords worn by the Japanese, one is long and slightly curved, the other
short and straight. [See also paper on “Japanese Armour,” in vol. ix of
the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.—EDR.]

[59] This appears to have been the substitute for those private
interviews in which the doctor and secretary were expected to show off
for the entertainment of the Dutch, and of which Kämpfer has given so
curious an account.

[60] It would take a thousand of the ordinary Japanese mats to cover
such a floor; but Thunberg says the mats upon it were of an extra size.

[61] This was a different arrangement from that which prevailed in
Kämpfer’s time, when the ambassador had the whole, except those
presented by the emperor himself.

[62] See paper on “Japanese Costume,” in vol. viii of the “Transactions
of the Asiatic Society of Japan.”—EDR.

[63] The two swords, the badge of nobility, are worn stuck into the
belt, on the left side, with no belt of their own, a little crosswise,
and with the edge upwards. When a person is seated, the longer sword is
taken from the belt and laid on the ground by him.

[64] The bosom of the gown is also used for the same purpose. For
pocket-handkerchiefs, the Japanese carry about them a supply of small,
square bits of soft paper, which they throw away as they use them.

[65] The Japanese print entirely from stereotype plates. They do not
employ movable types, and they print on one side of the paper only.

[66] The emperors are seldom or never spoken of, in the Jesuit letters
and other contemporary memorials, by their personal or family names,
but only by some title, as Kubō-Sama; Kwambaku-dono,—the Kwambaku (or
bonnet-keeper) being a high dignitary in the court of the Dairi, regent
in case of a minority or a female Dairi;—Taikō-Sama, mighty lord;
Shōgun-Sama, etc., etc.

[67] For a complete list of Shōguns, see Appendix III of Murray’s
“Story of Japan.”—EDR.

[68] Kämpfer represents the Japanese strawberry as entirely insipid,
and the raspberries and brambleberries as not agreeable; and Golownin,
from his own experience, agrees with him in this statement.

[69] This plenty is in strong contrast with the famine, scarcity, and
distress frequently noted by the Jesuit missionaries, as prevailing
during the civil wars of their time; yet, even at present, occasional
seasons of scarcity seem to occur.

[70] See a notice of Titsingh’s collection, by Rémusat, in “Nouveau
Mélanges Asiatique,” vol. i. It included, besides the works since
published, a manuscript history of Japan, in eighty volumes (Japanese
volumes are quite thin), also a Chinese Japanese encyclopædia,
several copies of a large map of Japan, colored drawings of plants,
several botanical treatises, with wood-cuts, very well done, etc.,
etc. The encyclopædia was presented to the _Bibliothèque au Roy_, and
Rémusat has given a full analysis of it in “Notices et Extraits des
Manuscrits,” vol. xi.

[71] Theoretically the Shōgun is but an inferior officer at the court
of the Dairi. The first rank belongs to the Kwambaku, who represents
the Dairi when that dignity devolves on a woman or a child. The
Shōgun, it is said, cannot hold this office. It was assumed, however,
by Taikō-sama, and even conferred by him on his presumptive heir.
Ordinarily the Daijō daijin, or president of the council, is the
first officer; then follow the Sadaijin and Udaijin, officers of the
left and of the right hand. These constitute the Dairi’s council, and
theoretically the Shōgun can do nothing without their consent. It is
esteemed a great honor to the Shōgun to receive even the third of these
titles.

[72] There is no such consonant as Dj in Japanese, and the proper
reading is not Djogoun, but Shōgun. An English translation, including
both the Memoirs of the Djogouns and the other pieces, was published at
London, in 1822, with the title of “Illustrations of Japan.”

[73] These two were the very pupils of Thunberg, though he writes their
names somewhat differently.

[74] See also paper in vol. xiii of the “Transactions of the Asiatic
Society of Japan.”—EDR.

[75] There are three classes of women-servants. Those of the first
class make the clothes of the mistress, dress her hair, and keep
her apartments in order. Those of the second wait on her at meals,
accompany her when she goes abroad, and attend to other domestic
duties. Those of the third are employed in cooking and various menial
offices.

[76] The toko, as already described in Chapter XXXII, is a sort of
recess, or open closet, opposite the entrance, considered the most
honorable place in the room. The above ceremony might call to mind the
_confarratio_ of the ancient Roman marriage.

[77] This is a small, square or oblong bag, containing a small image
of metal, wood, or stone, supposed to operate as a sort of amulet,
something like the medicine-bag of our North American Indians.

[78] See Lay’s paper on “Japanese Funeral Rites,” in vol. xix of the
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.—EDR.

[79] Better _sekihi_.—EDR.

[80] Father Vilela, in a letter written from Sakai, 1562, in the month
of August (at which time this festival happens), describes it in a very
lively manner. He represents the people as going out two days before,
as if to meet their dead relations, spreading a feast to refresh them
after their long journey, escorting them to their houses, talking
to them as if they were present, and, finally, dismissing them with
torches, lest they might stumble in the dark, or miss their way. This,
Vilela adds, is a great time for the bonzes, the very poorest offering
them some gift for their religious aid on this occasion.

[81] Krusenstern, in his narrative of the Russian embassy of Resanoff
(as to which see next paragraph of the text), speaks of the last
expedition of Stewart as fitted out by some English merchants in
Calcutta, and gives to the captain the name of Torey. Very likely he
had both names.

[82] The whole party consisted of fifteen, but of these only five,
and those the most worthless, were willing to return home. The others
preferred to remain in Siberia.

[83] See also Aston’s paper in vol. i of the “Transactions of the
Asiatic Society of Japan.”—EDR.

[84] Golownin was informed, during his captivity at Matsumae, that it
is part of the duty of the Japanese soldiers to assist in extinguishing
fires, for which purpose they are provided with a fireman’s dress of
varnished leather. To extinguish a fire is stated to be considered a
glorious achievement. But, though fire is almost the only element the
Japanese soldiers have to contend with, they do not seem to be very
expert at subduing it.

[85] The expenses of the visits to Yedo, in 1804, were sixteen thousand
six hundred and sixty-six rix dollars.

[86] See “A Voyage Round the World,” by Archibald Campbell, a
Scotchman, who served as a common sailor on board this ship. Doeff also
mentions her arrival.

[87] See also Aston’s paper in vol. vii of the Transactions of the
Asiatic Society of Japan.—EDR.

[88] The ships of 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, and 1803 had been Americans.
The renewal of the war in Europe having again driven the Dutch flag
from the ocean, the ships of 1806 had been an American and a Bremener;
and those of 1807 an American and a Dane. One of the ships of 1809 was
also an American, the “Rebecca.”

[89] This is Doeff’s account, but, according to Golownin, at that time
a prisoner in the north of Japan (see next chapter), and who learned
from the Japanese the arrival of the two vessels above mentioned, he
communicated to the Japanese the fact of the capture of Batavia by the
English, which fact, it was afterwards reported to him, the Dutch had
confessed. Baffles also, in his memoirs, in speaking of Ainslie and his
good treatment by the Japanese, clearly implies that he was known to be
English.

[90] Mr. Medhurst, English missionary at Batavia, who has published
an English and Japanese vocabulary, enumerates, in a letter written
in 1827, as among his helps to the knowledge of the language, besides
five different Japanese and Chinese dictionaries, a Dutch, Japanese,
and Chinese one, in two thick 8vo volumes; also a corresponding one in
Japanese, Chinese, and Dutch. These were printed in Japan, and were,
perhaps, fruits of Doeff’s labors.

[See also paper on “The Early Study of Dutch in Japan,” by Dr.
Mitsukuri, in vol. v of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of
Japan.—EDR.]

[91] The English translator of Golownin’s narrative mentions a species
of sea-weed collected for eating, on the northern coast of Scotland
and Ireland, and there called _dhulish_, or, when boiled, _sloak_, and
which, he says, answers exactly to Thunberg’s description of the edible
fucus of the Japanese.

[92] “The Japanese radish,” says Golownin, “is in form and taste very
different from ours. It is thin and extremely long. The taste is not
very acrid, but sweetish, almost like our turnips. Whole fields are
covered with it. A great part of the crop is salted, the remainder
is buried in the ground for winter, and boiled in soup. Not even the
radish-leaves remain unused; they are boiled in soup, or salted and
eaten as salad. They manure the radish fields with night-soil; this we
ourselves saw at Matsumae.”

[93] The fort on the island where they were taken prisoners, when first
seen from the ship, was hung round with striped cloths, which concealed
the walls. These cloths had embrasures painted on them, but in so
rough a manner that the deception could be perceived at a considerable
distance.

[94] The description of this prison corresponds very well to Kämpfer’s
description of the one at Nagasaki.

[95] The tea in common use, Golownin, like other travellers in Japan,
observed to be of a very inferior quality. Green tea was used as a
luxury on occasions of ceremony. Sugar was rare and costly, being
brought from Batavia by the Dutch, and packed for retail in small
baskets. Golownin saw also a very inferior kind, which he concluded to
be of domestic manufacture.

[96] This was the name of one of Golownin’s fellow-prisoners, who
had made himself quite famous among the Japanese by his skill as a
draftsman.

[97] Golownin mentions the scurvy as a prevailing disease among the
Japanese, perhaps occasioned by their thin diet.

[98] These released Japanese were sent to Matsumae, and, after
remaining about a week, were forwarded to Yedo. The shipwrecked men
did not give, so Golownin was informed, a very favorable account of
their entertainment in Kamtschatka. Ryōzayemon praised Irkutsk, but
represented eastern Siberia and Okhotsk as a miserable country, where
scarce anybody was to be seen except beggars and government officers.
He thought very meanly of the Russians, a few individuals excepted.
From their military spirit, even the boys in the street playing
soldier, he thought they must meditate conquest, probably that of Japan.

[99] There has been a great alteration in the last twenty years.
Siebold states that sixty-eight square-rigged vessels—mostly, no
doubt, American whalers—had been counted by the Japanese as passing
Matsumae and Hakodate in one year. According to a memorandum furnished
to Commodore Perry during his recent visit to Hakodate (May 3, 1854),
there had been, in the years 1847-1851, no less than five foreign
vessels wrecked in that vicinity.

[100] In Japan, as elsewhere, etiquette requires a good many things
to be done under feigned pretences, and on many occasions an affected
ignorance of what everybody knows. The Japanese have a particular term
(_naibun_) to express this way of doing things.

[101] Yet Kahei wore two swords, though perhaps he did it in the
character of a ship-master, or as an officer in authority in the island
to which he traded from Hakodate, carrying on the fishery there chiefly
by means of native Kuriles. These islands appear to have been farmed
out by the government to certain mercantile firms, which thus acquire a
certain civil authority over the inhabitants. The privilege of wearing
swords, like other similar privileges elsewhere, is probably rather
encroached upon by the unprivileged. On festival days, even the poorest
inhabitants of Nagasaki decked themselves out, according to Kämpfer,
with at least one sword. The present of a sword as a marriage gift—and
it is ceremonies practised among the mercantile class, to which
reference is made—is mentioned on p. 181.

[102] The old East India Company having become extinct, the Dutch trade
to Japan had been revived as a government affair. A new Dutch East
India Company having been formed, it was handed over to that company
in 1827, but, after a two years’ trial, was restored again to the
government, in whose hands it still remains.

[103] See London “Quarterly Review,” for July, 1819, in a note to an
article on Golownin’s narrative. The statement about bartering is
questionable.

[104] Siebold represents the Dutch at Deshima as humoring the Japanese
antipathy to change, by adhering in their dress to the old fashion,
and as rigged out in velvet coats and plumed hats, in the style of
Vandyke’s pictures.

[105] A series of numbers, professing to give the substance of the
recent works on Japan, principally Fisscher’s, Meylan’s, and Siebold’s,
appeared in the “Asiatic Journal” during the years 1839 and 1840, and
were afterwards collected and published at London in a volume, and
reprinted in Harper’s Family Library, with the title of “Manners and
Customs of the Japanese in the Nineteenth Century.” The same numbers,
to which some others were subsequently added in the “Asiatic Journal,”
were reprinted in the “Chinese Repository,” with notes, derived from
the information given to the editor by the shipwrecked Japanese, whom,
as mentioned above, it was attempted to carry home in the “Morrison.”
In the index to the “Chinese Repository” these numbers are ascribed to
a lady, a Mrs. B.

A still more elaborate and comprehensive work, based mainly on the same
materials, and often drawing largely from the one above referred to,
but rendered more complete by extracts from Kämpfer and Thunberg, is De
Jancigny’s “Japan,” published at Paris, in 1850, as a part of the great
French collection, entitled “L’univers, ou Histoire et Description de
tout les Peuples.”

Neither of these works contains any account of the Portuguese missions.

[106] Three accounts of this voyage have been published: one by
Williams (“Chinese Repository,” Nov. and Dec. 1837); a second by
Parker, London, 1838, and a third by King, New York, 1839. It is
possible that outrages by whaling vessels, which had begun to frequent
the seas of Japan in considerable numbers, might have somewhat
increased the antipathy of the Japanese towards foreigners. Of
transactions of that kind we should be little likely to hear, but that
they did sometimes occur seems to be proved by a paragraph in the
“Sidney Gazette” of February, 1842, warning mariners to be cautious how
they landed on Japan, as a Japanese village on the east coast of the
islands, somewhere near 43° north latitude, had been recently destroyed
by the crew of the Lady Rowena, then in the harbor of Sidney, and whose
captain openly boasted of the fact.

[107] Had the Japanese been readers of the London newspapers, they
might have found in the following paragraph, which appeared in the
“Examiner” of January 21, 1843, fresh motives for persisting in their
exclusive policy: “MISSIONARIES TO CHINA.—One of the largest meetings,
perhaps, ever held in Exeter Hall was held on Tuesday evening, convened
by the London Missionary Society, to consider the means of extending
and promoting in China the objects of the society. Wm. T. Blair,
Esq., of Bath, presided. Dr. Liefchild moved the first resolution,
_expressive of thanksgiving to God for the war between China and
Great Britain_ (the infamous opium war), and for the greatly enlarged
facilities secured by the treaty of peace for the introduction of
Christianity into that empire. This resolution was seconded by the Rev.
Dr. Adler, and was carried unanimously.” I have met with nothing in the
letters of the Jesuit missionaries, nor in the Jesuit missions, that
can be compared with this specimen of Protestant zeal.

[108] His instructions cautioned him not to do anything “to excite a
hostile feeling, or distrust of the United States.” The official papers
relating to this expedition, and to the subsequent one of the “Preble,”
will be found in “Senate Documents,” 1851-1852, vol. ix (Ex. Doc. No.
59).

[109] Dr. Bettelheim is at this moment in this country, anxious to
be employed as a missionary to Japan, for which his experience,
derived from a nine years’ residence in Lew Chew, gives him peculiar
qualifications. His treatment there was characteristic. The authorities
were anxious to get rid of him, but afraid to send him away by force,
while he was determined not to go. The inhabitants were ordered to
keep away from his house, to sell him nothing beyond a supply of food,
and to avoid him whenever he came near; while officers were appointed
to watch and to follow him wherever he went. See “Glyn’s Letter” in
Senate Documents, 1851-1852, vol. ix No. 59. There are also two curious
pamphlets on the subject, written by Dr. Bettelheim, and printed at
Canton.

[110] The same officers probably, designated by Kämpfer as deputies
of the governor, called by Thunberg, Banjoshū, and by the more recent
Dutch writers, Gobanjoshū.

[111] See also “America in the East” (Griffis) and “The Intercourse
between the United States and Japan” (Nitobe).—_Edr._

[112] By Siebold, in “Moniteur des Indes,” vol. ii, p. 346, in his
“Essay on the Commerce of Japan.”

[113] The official documents relating to this expedition were printed
by order of U. S. Senate, 33d Cong., 2d Sess. Ex. Doc. No. 34.

[114] Japan, p. 197. Perry, to judge by his letters (Dec. 14, 1852,
May 6, 1853), did not place much reliance on the aid of the Dutch.
The British Admiralty showed their good will by furnishing the latest
charts and sailing directions for the Eastern seas.

[115] As some persons may feel a curiosity to see Mr. Webster’s
original letter, and as it is not to be found in the edition of Mr.
Webster’s writings edited by Mr. Everett, I have copied it from the
Senate Documents 1851-1852, vol. ix. The expansion given to it in the
letter actually sent was not according to Japanese taste, which greatly
affects brevity.


 “TO HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN.

 “GREAT AND GOOD FRIEND:

 “I send you this letter by an envoy of my own appointment, an officer
 of high rank in this country, who is no missionary of religion. He
 goes by my command to bear to you my greeting and good wishes, and to
 promote friendship and commerce between the two countries.

 “You know that the United States of America now extend from sea to
 sea; that the great countries of Oregon and California are parts of
 the United States, and that from these countries which are rich in
 gold, and silver, and precious stones, our steamers can reach the
 shores of your happy land in less than twenty days.

 “Many of our ships will now pass in every year, and some perhaps
 in every week, between California and China. These ships must pass
 along the coast of your empire; storms and winds may cause them to be
 wrecked on your shores, and we ask and expect from your friendship and
 your greatness, kindness for our men and protection for our property.
 We wish that our people may be permitted to trade with your people;
 but we shall not authorize them to break any laws of your empire.

 “Our object is friendly commercial intercourse, and nothing more. You
 have many productions which we should be glad to buy; and we have
 productions which might suit your people.

 “Your empire has a great abundance of coal; this is an article which
 our steamships, in going from California to China, must use. They
 would be glad that a harbor in your empire should be appointed to
 which coal might be brought, and where they might always be able to
 purchase it.

 “In many other respects, commerce between your empire and our country
 would be useful to both. Let us consider well what new interests arise
 from these recent events which have brought our two countries so near
 together, and what purposes of friendship, amity, and intercourse,
 they ought to inspire in the breasts of those who govern both
 countries. Farewell.

 “Given under my hand and seal, at the city of Washington, the 10th
         day of May, 1851, and of the independence of the United
 (L. S.)  States the seventy-fifth.
                                                          “M. FILLMORE.
  “By the President:
        “D. WEBSTER, _Secretary of State_.”


[116] These islands lie between 26° 30´ and 27° 45´ north latitude,
about five hundred miles west of Lew Chew and the same distance south
of Yedo, on the direct route from the Sandwich Islands to Shanghai,
three thousand three hundred miles from the former, and about one
thousand one hundred from the latter. They consist of three groups.
The largest island is about forty miles in circumference. There are
nine others, diminishing down to five or six miles of circumference,
and about seventy rocky islets, all evidently of volcanic origin. The
extent of the whole is about two hundred and fifty square miles. The
name is Japanese, and signifies “uninhabited,” descriptive of the state
in which they were found when discovered by a Japanese vessel in 1675;
and, except some ineffectual attempts at penal colonization by the
Japanese, so they remained till occupied, in 1830, by a colony from the
Sandwich Islands, partly Americans and Europeans, and partly Sandwich
Islanders. They had been visited and claimed for the British crown in
1827, by Captain Beechey, in the surveying ship “Blossom.” The larger
ones are fertile and well watered, but scantily wooded. The largest,
called Peel’s Islands by Beechey, has a good harbor, and here Perry
bought a piece of land from a squatter for a coal depot.

[117] There is another province of the same name in the island of
Shikoku. That above-mentioned is otherwise called Bōshū.

[118] The squadron had as Chinese interpreter Mr. S. W. Williams, an
American, long resident at Macao, one of the editors of the “Chinese
Repository,” and one of the party of the “Morrison,” to carry back the
shipwrecked Japanese, from whom he had obtained some knowledge of that
language.

[119] The account of this visit is drawn partly from Commodore Perry’s
official reports, and partly from the letters of Lieutenant Contee and
others, published in the newspapers.

[120] Mistake for Kanagawa.—EDR.

[121] Rather on their heels.

[122] The number of American officers present at these interviews was
from twenty to fifty.

[123] The treaty is dated at Kanagawa, probably because it was the
nearest town. See Kämpfer’s mention of it, p. 74. Mr. Bidinger,
chaplain of the squadron, in one of his excursions on shore, managed to
reach and pass through it. He found it a large town.

[124] See, as to the roofs in Hakodate, p. 306, and employ these two
passages to reconcile the discrepancy noticed in vol. i, p. 392, note.

[125] There is a volcanic island similar to this, off the south coast
of Satsuma, and another near Hirado.

[126] It is said that these coins are called koban, but that ancient
name can hardly be applied at the same time to three coins, of such
different values. The old koban of Kämpfer would be worth at present
rates about eleven taels; the new koban of 1708 not quite six taels.
For the above account of the Japanese coins and monetary system, on
which subject the official report of the two American commissioners is
rather blind, I have been much indebted to an elaborate paper on the
trade to Japan, written by S. Wells Williams, the Chinese interpreter
to the embassy, and originally published in the “N. Y. Times.” No
person in the fleet was so well prepared by previous studies and the
experience of a long residence in China and familiarity with Chinese
literature to make intelligent observations in Japan. Japan has, like
Europe, its numismatology. Jancigny mentions a Japanese treatise on
this subject, published at Yedo in 1822, in seven volumes, which
describes five hundred and fifty coins, with colored prints (the color
being given in the impression) of most of them. The Japanese coins are
not struck, but cast in a mould. They are, however, exceedingly well
finished, and the impression sharp. Siebold speaks of halfs, quarters,
and sixteenths of a koban in gold; and of eighths and sixteenths of
a koban in silver; and, according to his account, there are in some
provinces zeni, and eighths of a koban in paper notes. This practice
might have been borrowed from the Chinese—paper money being one of the
numerous inventions in which they anticipated us of the West. [See also
“The Coins of Japan” (Munro).—EDR.]

[127] The following is given in the “San Francisco Herald” as a copy of
the address presented to Mr. Burrows on this occasion:

“With pleasure we welcome you to Yedo Bay, and in doing so, can assure
you that your ship, the ‘Lady Pierce,’ is the first foreign vessel that
has been received by us with pleasure.

“Commodore Perry brought with him too many large guns and fighting
men to be pleasing to us; but you have come in your beautiful ship,
which is superior to any we have before seen, to visit us, without any
hostile weapons, and the Emperor has ordered that you shall have all
the kindness and liberty extended to you that Commodore Perry received.

“You have, Mr. Burrows, come here, relying on our friendship and
hospitality, and we assure you that, although we have been shut out
for ages from other nations of the world, yet you shall bear with you,
when returning to your country, the knowledge that our Emperor and the
Japanese his subjects will never fail of extending protection to those
who come as you do to Japan. But the Emperor is particularly desirous
that you should extend the terms of the treaty made with Commodore
Perry, wherever you may go, to prevent any more ships coming to Yedo
Bay, as all must hereafter go to Shimoda or Hakodate.

“It has given the Emperor and all the Japanese great pleasure that you
have returned to Japan our countryman, Dee-yee-no-skee[This name is
unintelligible, except that “skee” stands for “suke.”—EDR.], who was
shipwrecked, and who has been residing for some time in your country,
where he states he has been treated with the greatest kindness, and
particularly so on board your ship, the ‘Lady Pierce.’ That you should
have made a voyage to Japan to restore him to his friends and home,
without any other inducement, as you say, except to see Japan, and
to form a friendship with us, merits and will ever receive our most
friendly feelings; and be assured, if any of your countrymen, or other
people, are shipwrecked on our shores, we will extend the same kindness
to them that you have to our countrymen, and place them at Shimoda or
Hakodate, and thus open to the world that our religion, which is so
different from yours, governs the Japanese, in all their dealings, by
as correct principles as yours governs you. We understand what ships
of war are; also what whaling ships and merchant ships are; but we
never before heard, till you came here, of such a ship as yours,—a
private gentleman’s pleasure ship,—coming so far as you have, without
any money-making business of trade, and only to see Japan, to become
acquainted with us, and bring home one of our shipwrecked people, the
first that has returned to his country from America or foreign land.

“You offer us, as presents, all the rare and beautiful articles you
have in your ship; but have received orders from the Emperor that we
must not tax your kind feelings by taking anything from you, as you
have already been sufficiently taxed in returning Dee-yee-no-skee.

“The Emperor also directs that all the gold pieces you have presented
to the Japanese must be collected and returned to you, and to say that
he alone must make presents in Yedo Bay. He has directed presents to be
made to you, in the Emperor’s name, by the governor of Shimoda, where
he desires you will proceed in your ship, the ‘Lady Pierce,’ and land
Dee-yee-no-skee, which will be in compliance with the treaty.

“Your visit to Japan in the ‘Lady Pierce’ has been attended with great
interest to us, and you will not be forgotten by the Japanese. We hope
we may meet you again, and we hope you will come back to Japan.

“The Emperor has directed that two ships like yours shall be built,
and we thank you for having allowed us to take drawings of the ‘Lady
Pierce,’ and of all that we desired on board.”

[128] See papers on Japanese music in vol. xix of the “Transactions of
the Asiatic Society of Japan.”—EDR.

[129] This, probably, is one of the Portuguese legacies to Japan.

[130] See also “Townsend Harris” (Griffis).—EDR.

[131] The title of a work ascribed to Valignani, the same visitor of
the Jesuit missions in the East, repeatedly mentioned in the text,
vol. i, pp. 100 _et seq._, and whom Purchas elsewhere calls the “great
Jesuit.”

[132] See Satow’s “Notes on the Intercourse between Japan and Siam in
the Seventeenth Century” in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of
Japan.—EDR.

[133] See vol. i, p. 221.

[134] Sec vol. i, p. 250.

[135] See vol. i, p. 266. Colbert’s East India Company and scheme of
opening the commerce of China and Japan was simultaneous with his
West India Company, and his attempts to strengthen and build up the
establishments of the French in the Carribee Islands and in Canada.
La Salle, who immortalized himself as the discoverer of the Upper
Mississippi, and as first having traced that river to its mouth in the
Gulf of Mexico, came originally to Canada with a view to the discovery
of an overland western passage to China and Japan. See Hildreth’s
“History of the United States,” vol. ii, p. 113. The Japan enterprise,
however, proved a failure, and the letter given above never actually
reached Japan.

[136] This was before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

[137] This reads very much like the third clause in the American letter.