“As to what concerns our accommodation on the road, the same is—with regard to the carriage of us and of our baggage, the number of horses and men provided for that purpose, the inns, lodgings, eating, and attendance—as good for our money as we could possibly desire. But, on the other hand, if we consider the narrow compass allowed us, we have too much reason to complain; for we are treated in a manner like prisoners, deprived of all liberty, excepting that of looking about the country from our horses, or out of our kago, which, indeed, it is impossible for them to deny us. As soon as a Dutchman alights from his horse (which is taken very ill, unless urgent necessity obliges him), he that rides before our train, and the whole train after him, must stop suddenly, and the Dōshin and two other attendants must come down from their horses to take immediate care of him. Nay, they watch us to that degree that they will not leave us alone, not even for the most necessary occasions. The Bugiō, or commander-in-chief of our train, studies day and night, not only the contents of his instructions, but the journals of two or three preceding journeys, in order exactly, and step by step, to follow the actions and behavior of his predecessors. ’Tis looked upon as the most convincing proof of his faithfulness and good conduct still to exceed them. Nay, some of these blockheads are so capricious that no accident whatever can oblige them to go to any other inns but those we had been at the year before, even though we should, upon this account, be forced in the worst weather, with the greatest inconveniency, and at the very peril of our lives, to travel till late at night.
“We go to the same inns which the princes and lords of the country resort to, that is, to the very best of every place. The apartments are at that time hung with the colors and arms of the Dutch East India Company, and this in order to notify to the neighborhood who they be that lodge there, as is customary in the country. We always go to the same inns, with this difference only, that, upon our return from Yedo, we lie at the place we dined at in going up, by this means equally to divide the trouble, which is much greater at night than at dinner. We always take up our lodging in the back apartment of the house, which is by much the pleasantest; also otherwise, as has been mentioned, reckoned the chief. The landlord observes the same customs upon our arrival as upon the arrival of the princes and lords of the empire. He comes out of the town or village into the fields to meet us, clad in a kamishimo, or garment of ceremony, and wearing a short scymetar stuck in his girdle, making his compliments with a low bow, which before the norimono of the Bugiō and our Resident is so low, that he touches the ground with his hands and almost with his forehead. This done, he hastens back to his house, and receives us at the entry a second time, in the same manner, and with the same compliments.
“As soon as we are come to the inn, our guardians and keepers carry us forthwith across the house to our apartments. Nor, indeed, are we so much displeased at this, since the number of spectators and the petulant scoffing of the children, but, above all, the exhaustion of a fatiguing journey, make us desirous to take our rest, the sooner the better. We are, as it were, confined to our apartments, having no other liberty but to walk out into the small garden behind the house. All other avenues, all the doors, windows, and holes which open any prospect towards the streets or country, are carefully shut and nailed up, in order, as they would fain persuade us, to defend us and our goods from thieves, but in fact to watch and guard us as thieves and deserters. It must be owned, however, that this superabundant care and watchfulness is considerably lessened upon our return, when we have found means to insinuate ourselves into their favor, and by presents and otherwise to procure their connivance.
“The Bugiō takes possession of the best apartment after ours. The several rooms next to our own are taken up by the Dōshin, interpreters, and other chief officers of our retinue, in order to be always near at hand to watch our conduct, and to care that none of our landlord’s domestics nor any other person presume to come into our apartment, unless it be by their leave and in their presence; and in their absence they commit this care to some of their own or our servants; though all the companions of our voyage in general are strictly charged to have a watchful eye over us. Those who exceed their fellow-servants in vigilance are, by way of encouragement, permitted to make the journey again the next year. Otherwise they stand excluded for two years.
“As soon as we have taken possession of our apartment, in comes the landlord with some of his chief male domestics, each with a dish of tea in his hand, which they present to every one of us with a low bow, according to his rank and dignity, and repeating, with a submissive, deep-fetched voice, the words, ah! ah! ah! They are all clad in their garments of ceremony, which they wear only upon great occasions, and have each a short scymetar stuck in his girdle, which they never quit, so long as the company stays in the house. This done, the necessary apparatus for smoking is brought in, consisting of a board of wood or brass, though not always of the same structure, upon which are placed a small fire-pan with coals, a pot to spit in, a small box filled with tobacco cut small, and some long pipes with small brass heads; as also another japanned board, or dish, with Sakana,[8] that is, something to eat, as, for instance, several sorts of fruits, figs, nuts, several sorts of cakes, chiefly manjū, and rice cakes hot, several sorts of roots boiled in water, sweetmeats, and other trumperies of this kind. All these things are brought first into the Bugiō’s room, then into ours. As to other necessaries travellers may have occasion for, they are generally, in the case of native travellers, served by the house-maids. These wenches also wait at table, taking that opportunity to engage their guests to further favors. But it is quite otherwise with us; for even the landlords themselves and their male domestics, after they have presented us with a dish of tea, as above said, are not suffered upon any account whatever to enter our apartments; but whatever we want it is the sole business of our own servants to provide us with.
“There are no other spitting-pots brought into the room but that which comes along with the tobacco. If there be occasion for more they make use of small pieces of bamboo, a hand broad and high, sawed from between the joints and hollowed. The candles brought in at night are hollow in the middle; the wick, which is of paper, being wound about a wooden stick before the tallow is laid on. For this reason, also, the candlesticks have a punch or bodkin at top, which the candles are fixed upon. They burn very quick, and make a great deal of smoke and smell, the oil or tallow being made of the berries of bay-trees, camphor-trees, and some others of the kind. It is somewhat odd and ridiculous to see the whirling motion of the ascending smoke followed by the flame, when the candle is taken off the punch at the top of the candlestick. Instead of lamps, they make use of small, flat, earthen vessels, filled with train-oil made of the fat of whales, or of oil made of cotton-seed. The wick is made of rush, and the abovesaid earthen vessel stands in another filled with water, or in a square lantern, that, in case the oil should by chance take fire, no damage may thereupon come to the house.
“The Japanese, in their journeys, sit down to table thrice a day, besides what they eat between meals. They begin early in the morning and before break of day, at least before they set out, with a good, substantial breakfast; then follows dinner at noon, and the day is concluded with a plentiful supper at night. It being forbid to play at cards, they sit after meals, drinking and singing some songs, to make one another merry, or else they propose some riddles round, or play at some other game, and he that cannot explain the riddle, or loses the game, is obliged to drink a glass. It is again quite otherwise with us, for we sit at table and eat our victuals very quietly. Our cloth is laid, and the dishes dressed after the European manner, but by Japanese cooks. We are presented, besides, by the landlord, each with a Japanese dish. We drink European wines and the rice-beer of the country hot. All our diversion is confined, in the daytime, to the small garden which is behind the house; at night to the bath, in case we please to make use of it. No other pleasure is allowed us, no manner of conversation with the domestics, male or female, excepting what, through the connivance of our inspectors, some of us find means to procure at night in private and in their own rooms.
“When everything is ready for us to set out again, the landlord is called, and our president, in presence of the two interpreters, pays him the reckoning in gold, laid upon a small salver. He draws near, in a creeping posture, kneeling, holding his hands down to the floor, and when he takes the salver which the money is laid upon, he bows down his forehead almost quite to the ground, in token of submission and gratitude, uttering with a deep voice the words ah! ah! ah! whereby in this country inferiors show their deference and respect to their superiors. He then prepares to make the same compliment to the other Dutchmen; but our interpreters generally excuse him this trouble, and make him return in the same crawling posture. Every landlord hath two koban paid him for dinner, and three for supper and lodgings at night. For this money he is to provide victuals enough for our whole train, the horses, the men that look after them, and porters only excepted. The same sum is paid to the landlords in the cities, where we stay some days, as at Ōsaka, Miyako, and Yedo, namely, five koban a day, without any further recompense. The reason of our being kept so cheap, as to victuals and lodging, is because this sum was agreed on with our landlords a long while ago, when our train was not yet so bulky as it now is.[9] It is a custom in this country, which we likewise observe, that guests, before they quit the inn, order their servants to sweep the room they lodged in, not to leave any dirt, or ungrateful dust, behind them.
A Daimyō’s Procession