A Carpenter Shop
“The castle and residence of the emperor is seated about the middle of the city. It is of an irregular figure, inclining to the round, and hath five Japanese miles in circumference. It embraces two fore-castles, as one may call them, the innermost and third castle, which is properly the residence of the emperor, and two other strong, well fortified, but smaller castles at the sides, also some large gardens behind the imperial palace. I call these several divisions castles, because they are every one by itself, enclosed with walls and ditches.
“The first and outermost castle takes in a large spot of ground, which encompasses the second castle, and half the imperial residence, and is enclosed itself with walls and ditches, and strong, well-guarded gates. It hath so many streets, ditches, and canals, that I could not easily get a plan of it. Nor could I gather anything to my satisfaction out of the plans of the Japanese themselves.[26] In this outermost castle reside the princes of the empire, with their families, living in commodious and stately palaces, built in streets, with spacious courts, shut up by strong, heavy gates. The second castle takes in a much smaller spot of ground. It fronts the third, and residence of the emperor, and is enclosed by the first, but separated from both by walls, ditches, draw-bridges, and strong gates. The guard of this second castle is much more numerous than that of the first. In it are the stately palaces of some of the most powerful princes of the empire, the councillors of state, the prime ministers, chief officers of the crown, and such other persons who must give a more immediate attendance upon the emperor’s person.
“The castle itself, where the emperor resides, is seated somewhat higher than the others, on the top of a hill, which hath been purposely flatted for the imperial palace to be built upon it. It is enclosed with a thick, strong wall of freestone, with bastions standing out, much after the manner of the European fortifications. A rampart of earth is raised against the inside of this wall, and at the top of it stand, for ornament and defence, several long buildings and square guard-houses, built in form of towers, several stories high. Particularly the structures on that side where the imperial residence is are of an uncommon strength, all of freestone of an extraordinary size, which are barely laid upon each other, without being fastened either with mortar or braces of iron, which was done, they say, that, in case of earthquakes, which frequently happen in this country, the stones yielding to the shock, the wall itself should receive no damage.
“Within the palace a square white tower rises aloft above all other buildings. It is many stories high, adorned with roofs and other curious ornaments, which make the whole castle look, at a distance, magnificent beyond expression, amazing the beholders, as do, also, the many other beautiful bended roofs, with gilt dragons at the top, which cover the rest of the buildings within the castle.
“The side castles are very small, and more like citadels, without any outward ornament. There is but one passage to them, out of the emperor’s own residence, over a high, long bridge. Both are enclosed with strong, high walls, encompassed with broad, deep ditches, filled by the great river. In these two castles are bred up the imperial princes and princesses.
“Behind the imperial residence there is still a rising ground, beautified, according to the country fashion, with curious and magnificent gardens and orchards, which are terminated by a pleasant wood at the top of a hill, planted with two curious kinds of plane-trees, whose starry leaves, variegated with green, yellow, and red, are very pleasing to the eye, of which the Japanese affirm that one kind is in full beauty in spring, the other towards autumn.
“The palace itself hath but one story, which, however, is of a fine height. It takes in a large spot of ground, and hath several long galleries and spacious rooms, which, upon putting on or removing of screens, may be enlarged or brought into a narrower compass, as occasion requires, and are contrived so as to receive at all times a convenient and sufficient light. The chief apartments have each its particular name. Such are, for instance, the waiting-room, where all persons that are to be admitted to an audience, either of the emperor or his prime ministers of state, wait till they are introduced; the council-chamber, where the ministers of state and privy councillors meet upon business; the hall of thousand mats, where the emperor receives the homage and usual presents of the princes of the empire and ambassadors of foreign powers; several halls of audience; the apartments for the emperor’s household, and others. The structure of all these several apartments is exquisitely fine, according to the architecture of the country. The ceilings, beams, and pillars are of cedar, or camphor, or jeseriwood, the grain of which naturally runs into flowers and other curious figures, and is, therefore, in some apartments, covered only with a thin, transparent, layer of varnish, in others japanned, or curiously carved with birds and branched work, neatly gilt. The floor is covered with the finest white mats, bordered with gold fringes or bands; and this is all the furniture to be seen in the palaces of the emperor and princes of the empire.”
The 29th of March, the last of the second Japanese month, was appointed for the reception of the Dutch,—Makino Bingo-no-Kami, the emperor’s principal counsellor and favorite, being in a hurry to get rid of them, because on the fifth of the ensuing month he was to have the honor to treat the emperor at dinner, a favor which requires a good deal of time and vast preparations. “This Bingo,” says Kämpfer, “tutor to the reigning monarch before he came to the crown, is now his chief favorite, and the only person whom he absolutely confides in. At our audience it is he that receives the emperor’s words and commands from his own mouth, and addresses the same to us. He is near seventy years of age, a tall but lean man, with a long face, a manly and German-like countenance, slow in his actions, and very civil in his whole behavior. He hath the character of a just and prudent man, no ways given to ambition, nor inclined to revenge, nor bent upon heaping up immoderate riches—in short, of being altogether worthy of the great confidence and trust the emperor puts in him.”