“The houses have neither the elegant appearance nor the convenience and comfort of ours in Europe. The rooms are not so cheerful and pleasant, nor so warm in the winter, neither are they so safe in case of fire, nor so durable. Their semi-transparent paper windows, in particular, spoil the houses, as well in their inside as outside appearance. Neither chimneys nor stoves are known throughout the whole country, although the cold is very intense, and they are obliged to make fires in their apartments from October to March. The fires are made in copper kettles, of various sizes, with broad projecting edges. This mode of firing is liable, however, to this inconvenience, that the charcoal sometimes smokes, in consequence of which the apartment becomes dirty and black, and the eyes of the company suffer exceedingly.
“The floors are always covered with mats made of a fine species of rush (Juncus effusus), cultivated in low spots for that purpose, and interwoven with rice straw. These mats are from three to four inches thick, and of the same size throughout the country, viz., two yards long and one broad. The insides of the houses, both ceiling and walls, are covered with a handsome, thick paper, ornamented with various flowers. These hangings are either green, yellow, or white; and sometimes embellished with silver and gold. As the paper is greatly damaged by the smoke in winter, it is renewed every third or fifth year.[47]
“The furniture in this country is as simple as the style of building. Neither cupboards, bureaus, sofas, beds, tables, chairs, clocks, looking-glasses, nor anything else of the kind, is to be seen. To the greater part of these the Japanese are utter strangers. Their soft floor-mats serve them for chairs. A small table, or rather salver, about twelve inches square and four high, is set before each person in company at every meal, of which there are three a day. The food (rice, soup, and fish being the principal articles) is served in lackered wooden cups. Most other nations of the East sit with their legs laid across before them,—the Chinese and Japanese lay their feet under their bodies, and make a chair of their heels. When the hour of rest approaches, a soft mattress, stuffed with cotton, is spread out on the mats. The Japanese have no pillows, instead of which they use oblong lackered pieces of wood. With the above apparatus for sleeping, the Japanese bed-chamber is put in order, and he himself up and dressed, in the twinkling of an eye; as, in fact, scarcely a longer time is requisite for him to throw the gown over him, which serves for dress by day and bedclothes at night, and to gird it round his waist.
“Though mirrors do not decorate the walls, they are in general use at the toilet, made not of glass, but of a composition of copper and zinc highly polished, and fixed obliquely in a stand of wood made for that purpose. Cleanliness is a constant object with these people, and not a day passes in which they do not wash themselves, whether they are at home or on a journey. In all towns and villages, inns and private houses, there are baths.” He adds, however, what goes rather against this alleged cleanliness, that as the poor, to save expense, are accustomed to use water in which others have repeatedly bathed, they are apt in that way to take infectious disorders. Neither do their open manure vaults, placed by the roadsides and in the very fronts of their houses, agree so well with this eulogy.
At Kokura the Dutch bespoke, against their return, rice and charcoal for the factory at Deshima. Having crossed to Shimonoseki, they embarked, on the 12th of March, in a large Japanese junk, for Ōsaka; but, having made less than half the voyage, they encountered contrary winds, which drove them a long distance back, and detained them for near three weeks. The weather was so cold as to make fires comfortable, and colds and catarrhs, endemical to Japan from the changeability of its climate, were very prevalent. All this time they slept on board, but had several times an opportunity to go on shore to amuse themselves at the inns and temples, the Japanese sailors being always anxious to land in order to bathe.
The country all along this coast was mountainous, which was the reason of going by sea instead of by land, the land road being very difficult. This coast seemed, nevertheless, to be highly cultivated, the mountains in many places resembling beautiful gardens.
At the places where they landed, the children were very numerous. “I observed,” says Thunberg, “that the chastisement of children was very moderate. I very seldom heard them rebuked or scolded, and hardly ever saw them flogged or beaten, either in private families or on board the vessels; while, in more civilized and enlightened nations, these compliments abound.[48] In the schools one might hear the children read all at once, and so loud as almost to deafen one.”
Whenever the Japanese went on shore, they killed geese and ducks for the Dutchmen to eat; but at sea they had scruples about killing them, though in fine weather the Chinese teal (Anas galericulata), and several sorts of ducks, fairly covered the water, so as to look at a distance like great islands. But, though scrupulous themselves, they made no objections to Thunberg’s killing them; though, not being allowed the use of fire-arms, it does not appear how he did it.
At length, on the seventh of April, after a disagreeable and dangerous passage of twenty-six days, they reached the harbor of Hiōgo, whence the next day, partly by land and partly in small boats, they proceeded to Ōsaka. Here each of the travellers disbursed sixteen taels in presents to the captain and crew of the vessel, for the hire of which the sum of four hundred and eighty taels was paid by the East India Company. They stayed at Ōsaka only a single night, during which they bespoke from some merchants, who visited them[49] with samples, several articles, such as insects of copper, artificial trees varnished, fans of various kinds, writing paper, paper hangings, etc. They left Ōsaka early in the morning, by torchlight, and, following the same road which Kämpfer had taken, reached Miyako at night. “Except in Holland,” says Thunberg, “I never made so pleasant a journey as this, with regard to the beauty and delightful appearance of the country. The whole country, on both sides of us, as far as we could see, was nothing but a fertile field, and the whole of our long day’s journey extended through villages, of which one began where the other ended.”
The farmers were now preparing their lands for rice. The fields, by means of a raised border, lay almost entirely under water. This was the case even with those sides of the hills intended for rice. They were laid out in terraces, the water collected on the higher grounds being regulated by means of walls or dams, so as to be let on or shut off at pleasure. There were, also, reservoirs, constructed to retain the contents of the flooded streams, against occasions of drought. The rice was sown first very close and thick, and when about six inches high was transplanted into the fields, in tufts of several plants, placed about six inches apart. This was done by the women, who waded about in water at least six inches deep, the men having first turned up the ground with a hoe. Beautiful white herons followed the laborers, and cleared the fields of worms. The rice thus planted was reaped in November.