Kämpfer’s Two Journeys to Court—Preparations—Presents—Japanese Attendants—Packing the Baggage and Riding on Horseback—Japanese Love of Botany—Accoutrements—Road-Books—Norimono and Kago—A. D. 1690-1692.
Mention has already been made of the custom established in Japan, that all the governors of imperial cities and of provinces, and, indeed, all the Daimiō and Shōmiō—that is, nobles of the first and second rank—should, once a year, make a journey to court; those of the first rank to pay their respects and make presents to the emperor in person, and those of the second rank to salute his chief ministers, assembled in council.
In this respect the director of the Dutch trade is placed on the same footing with the superior nobility, and his journey to court, accompanied by a physician, a secretary or two, and a flock of Japanese attendants of various ranks, affords the Dutch the only opportunity they have of knowing anything by their own personal observation, beyond the vicinage of Nagasaki.
A Buddhist Priest in a Norimono
Ancient Imperial Carriages
Lady in a Kago
Transportation Methods
Kämpfer made this journey twice—the first time in 1691, and again in 1692—and, notwithstanding the strict surveillance under which the Dutch are kept, his observations were highly curious. Besides a journal of his daily route, he gives a general summary of all that he observed, containing a great deal of curious information, the most interesting part of which is copied in this and the following chapters, nearly in his own words: