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.
(L. S.)
“Given under my hand and seal, at the city of Washington, the 10th day of May, 1851, and of the independence of the United 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.