_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.”