In the afternoon our travellers passed into the province of Chikugo, and having traversed a small but very pleasant wood of firs,—a rare sight in the flat parts of the country,—they saw at a distance the castle of Kurume, the residence of the prince of the province.[14] Friday, February 16, mountains were encountered, which they passed in kago, as the road was too steep for horseback-riding. This country, forming a part of the province of Chikuzen, struck Kämpfer as not unlike some mountainous and woody parts of Germany, but no cattle were seen grazing, except a few cows and horses for carriage and ploughing. The people were less handsome than those of Hizen, but extremely civil.
The next day (February 17), after passing, in the afternoon, some coal-mines, whence the neighborhood was supplied with fuel, they reached Kokura, capital of the province of Buzen, once a large town, but now much decayed. It had a large castle of freestone, with a few cannon and a tower of six stories, the usual sign of princely residences. A river passed through the town, crossed by a bridge near two hundred yards long, but it was too shallow to admit vessels of any size. At least one hundred small boats were drawn up on the banks. On leaving their inn where they had stopped to dine, the Dutch found the square in front of it, as well as the bridge, crowded with upwards of a thousand spectators, chiefly ordinary people, who had collected to see them, and who knelt in profound silence, without motion or noise. The distance of this place from Nagasaki was reckoned at fifty-five Japanese miles, and had consumed five days.
Image of Jizō
Embarking in boats, the Dutch travellers crossed the strait which separates Shimo from Nippon, narrower here than anywhere else, less than three miles wide, though the town of Shimonoseki, which gives its name to the strait, being situated at the bottom of an inlet, is near twelve miles from Kokura. This town, in the province of Nagato, consisted of four or five hundred houses, built chiefly on both sides of one long street, with a few smaller ones terminating in it. It is full of shops for selling provisions and stores to the ships, which daily put in for shelter or supplies, and of which not less than two hundred were seen at anchor. It also had a temple to Amida, built to appease the ghost of a young prince of the family of Heishi, so celebrated in the legendary annals of the Japanese, whose nurse, with the boy in her arms, is said to have thrown herself headlong into the strait to avoid capture by his father’s enemies, at the time of the ruin of that family.
The voyage from Shimonoseki to Ōsaka was reckoned at one hundred and thirty-four Japanese water-miles, and was made in six days, the vessel coming to anchor every night in good harbors, with which the coast abounds. This voyage lay first through the strait between Shimo and Nippon, and then through the strait or sea between Nippon and Shikoku, which was full of islands, some cultivated, others mere rocks. On the main land on either side snow-covered mountains were visible. The barge could proceed no further than Hyōgo, a city of the province Settsu, nearly as large as Nagasaki. Here the company embarked in small boats for Ōsaka. As they passed along they saw at a distance the imperial city of Sakai, three or four Japanese miles south from Ōsaka. The description of Ōsaka, and of the journey thence to Miyako, is thus given by Kämpfer:
“Ōsaka, one of the five imperial cities, is agreeably seated in the province of Settsu, in a fruitful plain, and on the banks of a navigable river. At the east end is a strong castle; and at the western end, two strong, stately guard-houses, which separate it from its suburbs. Its length from these suburbs to the above-mentioned castle is between three and four thousand yards. Its breadth is somewhat less. The river Yodogawa runs on the north side, and below the city falls into the sea. This river rises a day and a half’s journey to the northeast, out of a midland lake in the province of Ōmi, which, according to Japanese histories, arose in one night, that spot which it now fills being sunk in a violent earthquake. Coming out of this lake, it runs by the small towns Uji and Yodo, from which latter it borrows its name, and so continues down to Ōsaka. About a mile before it comes to this city, it sends off one of its arms straight to the sea. This want, if any, is supplied by two other rivers, both which flow into it just above the city, on the north side of the castle, where there are stately bridges over them. The united stream having washed one third of the city, part of its waters are conveyed through a broad canal to supply the south part, which is also the larger, and that where the richest inhabitants live. For this purpose several smaller channels cut from the large one, pass through some of the chief streets, deep enough to be navigable for small boats, which bring goods to the merchant’s doors—though some are muddy, and not too clean, for want of a sufficient quantity and run of water. Upwards of an hundred bridges, many extraordinarily beautiful, are built over them.
“A little below the coming out of the above-mentioned canal another arm arises on the north side of the great stream, which is shallow and not navigable, but runs down westward, with great rapidity, till it loses itself in the sea. The middle and great stream still continues its course through the city, at the lower end whereof it turns westward, and having supplied the suburbs and villages which lie without the city, by many lateral branches, at last loses itself in the sea through several mouths. This river is narrow, indeed, but deep and navigable. From its mouth up as far as Ōsaka, and higher, there are seldom less than a thousand boats going up and down, some with merchants, others with the princes and lords who live to the west, on their way to and from Yedo. The banks are raised on both sides into ten or more steps, coarsely hewn of freestone, so that they look like one continued stairs, and one may land wherever he pleases. Stately bridges are laid over the river at every three or four hundred paces’ distance. They are built of cedar wood, and are railed on both sides, some of the rails being adorned at top with brass buttons. I counted in all ten such bridges, three whereof were particularly remarkable, because of their length, being laid over the great arm of the river where it is broadest.
“The streets, in the main, are narrow but regular, cutting each other at right angles. From this regularity, however, we must except that part of the city which lies towards the sea, because the streets there run along the several branches of the river. The streets are very neat, though not paved. However, for the conveniency of walking, there is a small pavement of square stones along the houses on each side of the street. At the end of every street are strong gates, which are shut at night, when nobody is suffered to pass from one street to another without special leave and a passport from the Otona, or street officer. There is also in every street a place railed in, where they keep all the necessary instruments in case of fire. Not far from it is a covered well, for the same purpose. The houses are, according to the custom of the country, not above two stories high, each story of nine or twelve feet. They are built of wood, lime, and clay. The front offers to the spectator’s eye the door, and a shop where the merchants sell their goods, or else an open room where artificers, openly and in everybody’s sight, exercise their trade. From the upper end of the shop or room hangs down a piece of black cloth, partly for ornament, partly to defend them in some measure from the wind and weather. At the same place hang some fine patterns of what is sold in the shop. The roof is flat, and in good houses covered with black tiles laid in lime. The roofs of ordinary houses are covered only with shavings of wood. Within doors all the houses are kept clean and neat to admiration. The staircases, rails, and all the wainscoting, are varnished. The floors are covered with neat mats. The rooms are separated from each other by screens, upon removal of which several small rooms may be enlarged into one, or the contrary done if needful. The walls are hung with shining paper, curiously painted with gold and silver flowers. The upper part of the wall, for some inches down from the ceiling, is commonly left empty, and only clayed with an orange-colored clay, which is dug up about this city, and is, because of its beautiful color, exported into other provinces. The mats, doors, and screens are all of the same size, six Japanese feet long and three broad. The houses themselves, and their several rooms, are built proportionably according to a certain number of mats, more or less. There is commonly a curious garden behind the house, such as I have described elsewhere. Behind the garden is the bathing-stove, and sometimes a vault, or rather a small room, with strong walls of clay and lime, to preserve, in case of fire, the richest household goods and furniture.
“Ōsaka is extremely populous, and if we believe what the boasting Japanese tell us, can raise an army of eighty thousand men from among its inhabitants. It is the best trading town in Japan, being extraordinarily well situated for carrying on a commerce both by land and water. This is the reason why it is so well inhabited by rich merchants, artificers and manufacturers. Provisions are cheap, notwithstanding the city is so well peopled. Whatever tends to promote luxury, and to gratify all sensual pleasures, may be had at as easy a rate here as anywhere, and for this reason the Japanese call Ōsaka the universal theatre of pleasures and diversions. Plays are to be seen daily, both in public and in private houses. Mountebanks, jugglers, who can show some artful tricks, and all the raree-show people who have either some uncommon, or monstrous animal to exhibit, or animals taught to play tricks, resort thither from all parts of the empire, being sure to get a better penny here than anywhere else.[15] Hence it is no wonder that numbers of strangers and travellers daily resort thither, chiefly rich people, as to a place where they can spend their time and money with much greater satisfaction than perhaps anywhere else in the empire. The western princes and lords on this side Ōsaka all have houses in this city, and people to attend them in their passage through, and yet they are not permitted to stay longer than a night, besides that upon their departure they are obliged to follow a road entirely out of sight of the castle.