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.
A Kitchen, showing Utensils
A Fishmonger;
The Marketing and Preparation of Food
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.
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.”