“From this reasonable behavior of the landlords, the reader may judge of the civility of the whole nation in general, always excepting our own officers and servants. I must own that, in the visits we made or received in our journey, we found the same to be greater than could be expected from the most civilized nations. The behavior of the Japanese, from the meanest countryman up to the greatest prince or lord, is such that the whole empire might be called a school of civility and good manners. They have so much sense and innate curiosity, that, if they were not absolutely denied a free and open conversation and correspondence with foreigners, they would receive them with the utmost kindness and pleasure. In some towns and villages only we took notice that the young boys, who are childish all over the world, would run after us, calling us names, and cracking some malicious jests or other, levelled at the Chinese, whom they take us to be. One of the most common, and not much different from a like sort of a compliment which is commonly made to Jews in Germany, is Tōjin baibai? which, in broken Chinese, signifies, Chinese, have ye nothing to truck?
“It may not be amiss to observe, that it is not an indifferent matter to travellers in this country what day they set out on their journey; for they must choose for their departure a fortunate day, for which purpose they make use of a particular table, printed in all their road-books, which they say hath been observed to hold true by a continued experience of many ages, and wherein are set down all the unfortunate days of every month. However, the most sensible of the Japanese have but little regard for this superstitious table, which is more credited by the common people, the mountain priests, and monks.
“To give the more authority to this table, they say that it was invented by the astrologer Seimei, a man of great quality and very eminent in his art. King Abeno Tashima was his father, and a fox his mother, to whom Abeno Tashima was married upon the following occasion. He once happened with a servant of his to be in the temple of Inari, who is the god and protector of the foxes. Meanwhile some courtiers were hunting the fox without doors, in order to make use of the lungs for the preparation of a certain medicine. It happened upon this that a young fox, pursued by the hunters, fled into the temple, which stood open, and took shelter in the very bosom of Tashima. The king, unwilling to deliver up the poor creature to the unmerciful hunters, was forced to defend himself and his fox, and to repel force by force, wherein he behaved himself with so much bravery and success that, having defeated the hunters, he set the fox at liberty. The hunters, ashamed and highly offended at the courageous behavior of the king, seized, in the height of their resentment, an opportunity which offered to kill his royal father. Tashima mustered up all his courage and prudence to revenge his father’s death, and with so much success that he killed the traitors with his own hands. The fox, to return his gratitude, appeared to him, after the victory which he obtained over the murderers of his father, in the shape of a lady of incomparable beauty, and so fired his breast with love that he took her to his wife. It was by her he had this son, who was endowed with divine wisdom, and the precious gift of prognosticating and foretelling things to come. Nor did he know that his wife had been that very fox whose life he saved with so much courage in the temple of Inari, till, soon after, her tail and other parts beginning to grow, she resumed by degrees her former shape.[10]
“Seimei not only calculated the above table by the knowledge he had acquired of the motion and influence of the stars, but, as he was at the same time a perfect master of the cabalistic sciences, he found out certain words which he brought together into an Uta, or verse, the repetition of which is believed to have the infallible virtue of keeping off all those misfortunes which, upon the days determined in the table to be unfortunate, would otherwise befall travellers,—this verse being for the use and satisfaction of poor ordinary servants, who have not leisure to accommodate themselves to the table, but must go when and wherever they are sent by their masters.”
CHAPTER XXXV
From Nagasaki to Kokura—Shimonoseki—Water Journey to Ōsaka—Description of that City—Its Castle—Interview with the Governors—From Ōsaka to Miyako—Jodo and its Castle—Fushimi—Entrance into Miyako—Visit to the Chief Justice and the Governors—Description of Miyako—Palace of the Dairi—Castle—Manufactures and Trade—Authority of the Chief Justice—Police—Crimes.
At coming out of Nagasaki, on his first journey to court (Tuesday, February 13, 1691), Kämpfer noticed the idol Jizō, the god of the roads and protector of travellers, hewn out of the rock in nine different places. At the next village stood another of the same sort, about three feet in height, on a stone pillar twice as high, and adorned with flowers. Two other smaller stone pillars, hollow at top, stood before the idol, upon which were placed lamps, for travellers to light in its honor; and at some distance stood a basin of water, in which to wash the hands before lighting the lamps.
The first twelve miles’ travelling, which was very steep and mountainous, brought the company to the shores of the bay of Ōmura, which they found too shallow for vessels of size; but by crossing it in boats, furnished by the prince of Ōmura, each rowed by fourteen watermen, they saved a distance of ten miles or more. The distance across was thirty miles. The town of Ōmura was seen on the right at the head of the bay, and beyond it a smoking mountain. The shells of this bay were reported to yield pearls.[11]
The second day (Wednesday, February 14) they passed an old camphor-tree, estimated to be thirty-six feet in circumference, and hollow within.[12] At Shiwota, where they dined, a seaport on the gulf of Shimabara, was a manufactory of large earthen pots, used by vessels as water-cakes, and also of china ware, made of a whitish, fat clay, abundant in that neighborhood. The same day they visited a hot spring, much frequented for its medicinal effects, and provided with accommodations for bathing. There are several others in the neighborhood.[13]
Saga, the capital of the province of Hizen, through which they passed the next day (Thursday, February 15), without stopping, was found to be a considerable place, situated not far from the western border of the province, near the head of the bay of Shimabara. “The city,” says Kämpfer, “is very large, but extends more in length than in breadth. It is exceedingly populous. Both going in and coming out we found strong guards at the gates. It is enclosed with walls, but more for state than defence. The prince or petty king of this province resides here in a large castle, which commands the city. The streets are large, with streams of water flowing through them. The houses are but sorry and low, and in the chief streets fitted up for manufacturers and shopkeepers. The inhabitants are very short, but well shaped, particularly the women, who are handsomer, I think, than in any other Asiatic country, but so much painted that one would be apt to take them for wax figures rather than living creatures. Many were noticed who seemed little more than girls, yet evidently the mothers of several children. These women of Hizen have the reputation of being the handsomest in Japan, next to those of Miyako. This province, though less wealthy than that of Satsuma, is reputed to be about the most fertile in all Japan, being particularly famous for its rice, of which it produces ten different sorts or qualities, one of which is reserved for the special use of the emperor. The rice-fields were observed to be bordered with tea-shrubs about six feet high; but as they were stripped of their leaves, they made but a naked and sorry appearance.”