Kæmpfer quitted the ship as soon as possible, and took up his residence at Desima, a small island adjoining Nangasaki, or only separated from it by an artificial channel. Here he forthwith commenced the study of the language, and the contrivance of the means of acquiring from a people bound by a solemn oath to impart nothing to foreigners such information respecting the country, its institutions, religion, and manners as might satisfy the curiosity of the rest of mankind respecting so singular a nation. The difficulties, he observes, with which he had to contend were great, but not altogether insuperable; and might be overcome by proper management, notwithstanding all the precautions which the Japanese government had taken to the contrary. The Japanese, a prudent and valiant nation, were not so easily to be bound by an oath taken to such gods or spirits as were not worshipped by many, and were unknown to most; or if they did comply, it was chiefly from fear of the punishment which would inevitably overtake them if betrayed. Besides, though proud and warlike, they were as curious and polite a nation as any in the world, naturally inclined to commerce and familiarity with foreigners, and desirous to excess of acquiring a knowledge of their histories, arts, and sciences. But the Dutch being merchants, a class of men which they ranked among the lowest of the human race, and viewed with jealousy and mistrust even for the very slavish and suspicious condition in which they were held, our traveller could discover no mode of insinuating himself into their friendship, and winning them over to his interest, but by evincing a readiness to comply with their desires, a liberality which subdued their avarice, and an humble and submissive manner which flattered their vanity.
By these means, as he ingenuously confesses, he contrived, like another Ulysses, to subdue the spells of religion and government; and having gained the friendship and good opinion of the interpreters and the officers who commanded in Desima, to a degree never before possessed by any European, the road to the knowledge he desired lay open and level before him. It would, indeed, have been no easy task to resist the methods he put in practice for effecting his purpose. He liberally imparted to them both medicine and medical advice, and whatever knowledge he possessed in astronomy and mathematics; he likewise furnished them with a liberal supply of European spirituous liquors; and these, joined with the force of captivating manners, were arguments irresistible. He was therefore permitted by degrees to put whatever questions he pleased to them respecting their government, civil and ecclesiastical, the political and natural history of the country, the manners and customs of the natives, or any other point upon which he required information; even in those matters on which the most inviolable secrecy was enjoined by their oaths. The materials thus collected, however, though highly important and serviceable, were far from being altogether satisfactory, or sufficient foundation whereon to erect a history of the country; which, therefore, he must have left unattempted had not his good genius presented him with other still more ample means of knowledge.
Upon his arrival in Desima young man of about four-and-twenty, prudent, sagacious, indefatigable, thoroughly acquainted with the languages of China and Japan, and ardently desirous of improving himself in knowledge, was appointed to attend upon him, in the double capacity of servant and pupil. This young man had the good fortune, while under the direction of Kæmpfer, to cure the governor of the island of some complaint under which he laboured; for which important service he was permitted, apparently contrary to rule, to remain in the service of our traveller during the whole of his stay in Japan, and even to accompany him on his two journeys to the capital. In order to derive all possible advantage from the friendship of his pupil, Kæmpfer taught him Dutch, as well as anatomy and surgery; and moreover allowed him a handsome salary. The Japanese was not ungrateful. He collected with the utmost assiduity from every accessible source such information as his master required; and there was not a book which Kæmpfer desired to consult that he did not contrive to procure for him, and explain whenever his explanation was necessary.
About the middle of February, 1691, the customary presents having been got ready, and the necessary preparations made, the Dutch embassy set out from Nangasaki for the court of the emperor, with Kæmpfer and his pupil in its train. Having got fairly out of the city they proceeded on their journey, passing through the small village of Mangome, wholly inhabited by leather-tanners, who perform the office of public executioners in Japan; and in about two hours passed a stone pillar marking the boundaries of the territory of Nangasaki. Here and there upon the wayside they beheld the statue of Zisos, the god of travellers, hewn out of the solid rock, with a lamp burning before it, and wreaths of flowers adorning its brows. At a little distance from the image of the god stood a basin full of water, in which such travellers performed their ablutions as designed to light the sacred lamps, or make any other offering in honour of the divinity.
Towards the afternoon of the first day’s journey they arrived at the harbour of Omura, on the shore of which they observed the smoke of a small volcano. Pearl oysters were found in this bay; and the sands upon the coast had once been strewn with gold, but the encroachment of the sea had inundated this El Doradian beach. Next morning they passed within sight of a prodigious camphor-tree, not less than thirty-six feet in circumference, standing upon the summit of a craggy and pointed hill; and soon afterward arrived at a village famous for its hot-baths. After passing through another village, they reached a celebrated porcelain manufactory, where the clay used was of a fat-coloured white, requiring much kneading, washing, and cleansing, before it could be employed in the formation of the finer and more transparent vessels. The vast labour required in this manufacture gave rise to the old saying, that porcelain was formed of human bones.
The country through which they now travelled was agreeably diversified with hill and dale, cultivated like a garden, and sprinkled with beautiful fields of rice, enclosed by rows of the tea-shrub, planted at a short distance from the road. On the next day they entered a plain country, watered by numerous rivers, and laid out in rice-fields like the former. In passing through this district they had for the first time an opportunity of observing the form and features of the women of the province of Fisen. Though already mothers, and attended by a numerous progeny, they were so diminutive in stature that they appeared to be so many girls, while the paint which covered their faces gave them the air of great babies or dolls. They were handsome, however, notwithstanding that, in their quality of married women, they had plucked out the hair of both eyebrows; and their behaviour was agreeable and genteel. At Sanga, the capital of the province, he remarked the same outrageous passion for painting the face in all the sex, though they were naturally the most beautiful women in Asia; and, as might be conjectured from the rosy colour of their lips, possessed a fine healthy complexion.
Upon quitting the province of Fisen, and entering that of Toussima, a mountainous and rugged country, they travelled in a rude species of palanquin called a cango, being nothing more than a small square basket, open on all sides, though covered at top, and carried upon a pole by two bearers. In ascending the mountain of Fiamitz they passed through a village, the inhabitants of which, they were told, were all the descendants of one man, who was then living. Whether this was true or not, Kæmpfer found them so handsome and well formed, and at the same time so polished and humane in their conversation and manners, that they seemed to be a race of noblemen. The scenery in this district resembled some of the woody and mountainous parts of Germany, consisting of a rapid succession of hills and valleys, covered with copses or woods; and though in some few places too barren to admit of cultivation, yet, where fertile, so highly valued, that even the tea-shrub was only allowed to occupy the space usually allotted to enclosures.
On the 17th of February they reached the city of Kokura, in the province of Busen. Though considerably fallen from its ancient opulence and splendour, Kokura was still a large city, fortified by towers and bastions, adorned with many curious gardens and public buildings, and inhabited by a numerous population. Here they moved through two long lines of people, who lined both sides of the way, and knelt in profound silence while they passed. They then embarked in barges; and, sailing across the narrow strait which divides the island of Kiersu from Nisson, landed at Simonoseki in the latter island, the name of which signified the prop of the sun. Next day being Sunday, they remained at Simonoseki; and Kæmpfer strolled out to view the city and its neighbourhood. He found it filled with shops of all kinds, among which were those of certain stonecutters, who, from a black and gray species of serpentine stone, dug from the quarries in the vicinity, manufactured inkstands, plates, boxes, and several other articles, with great neatness and ingenuity. He likewise visited a temple erected to the manes of a young prince who had prematurely perished. This he found hung, like their theatres, with black crape, while the pavement was partly covered with carpets inwrought with silver. The statue of the royal youth stood upon an altar; and the Japanese who accompanied our traveller bowed before it, while the attendant priest lit up a lamp, and pronounced a kind of funeral oration in honour of the illustrious dead. From the temple they were conducted into the adjoining monastery, where they found the prior, a thin, grave-looking old man, clothed in a robe of black crape, who sat upon the floor; and making a small present to the establishment, they departed.
Next morning, February 19th, they embarked for Osaki, preferring the voyage by water to a toilsome journey over a rude and mountainous region; and, after sailing through a sea thickly studded with small islands, the greater number of which were fertile and covered with population, arrived in five days at their point of destination. Osaki, one of the five imperial cities of Japan, was a place of considerable extent and great opulence. The streets were broad, and in the centre of the principal ones ran a canal, navigable for small unmasted vessels, which conveyed all kinds of merchandise to the doors of the merchants; while upwards of a hundred bridges, many of which were extremely beautiful, spanned these canals, and communicated a picturesque and lively air to the whole city. The sides of the river were lined with freestone, which descended in steps from the streets to the water, and enabled persons to land or embark wherever they pleased. The bridges thrown over the main stream were constructed with cedar, elegantly railed on both sides, and ornamented from space to space with little globes of brass. The population of the city was immense; and, like those of most seaport towns, remarkably addicted to luxury and voluptuousness.
From Osaki they proceeded through a plain country, planted with rice, and adorned with plantations of Tsadanil trees, to Miako, the ancient capital of Japan. It being the first day of the month, which the Japanese keep as a holyday, they met great multitudes of people walking out of the city, as the Londoners do on Sunday, to enjoy the sweets of cessation from labour,