_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.”