A Native Postman;
Toko-no-ma
“Numerous troops of fore-runners, harbingers, clerks, cooks, and other inferior officers go before to provide lodgings, victuals, and other things necessary for the entertainment of their prince and master, and his court. They are followed by the prince’s heavy baggage, packed up either in small trunks, as already described, and carried upon horses, each with a banner, bearing the coat of arms and the name of the possessor, or else in large chests, covered with red lackered leather, again with the possessor’s coat of arms, and carried upon men’s shoulders, with multitudes of inspectors to look after them. Next come great numbers of smaller retinues, belonging to the chief officers and noblemen attending the prince, with pikes, scymetars, bows and arrows, umbrellas, palanquins, led horses, and other marks of their grandeur, suitable to their birth, quality, and office. Some of these are carried in norimono, others in kago, and others go on horseback.
“The prince’s own numerous train, marching in an admirable and curious order, is divided into several troops, each headed by a proper commanding officer, as, 1. Five, more or less, fine horses, each led by two grooms, one on each side, two footmen walking behind. 2. Five or six, and sometimes more, porters, richly clad, walking one by one, and carrying lackered chests, and japanned neat trunks and baskets, upon their shoulders, wherein are kept the wearing apparel and other necessaries for the daily use of the prince, each porter attended by two footmen. 3. Ten or more fellows, walking one by one, and carrying rich scymetars, pikes of state, fire-arms, and other weapons, in lackered wooden cases, as, also, quivers with bows and arrows. Sometimes, for magnificence sake, there are more chest-bearers and led horses following this troop. 4. Two, three, or more men, who carry pikes of state, as the badges of the prince’s power and authority, adorned at the upper end with bunches of cock feathers, or other ornaments peculiar to such or such a prince. They walk one by one, and are attended each by two footmen. 5. A gentleman, attended by two footmen, carrying the prince’s hat, worn as a shelter from the heat of the sun, and which is covered with black velvet. 6. A gentleman carrying the prince’s sombrero, or umbrella, which is covered in like manner with black velvet, this person also attended by two footmen. 7. Some more bearers of trunks, covered with varnished leather, with the prince’s coat of arms upon them, each with two men to take care of it. 8. Sixteen, more or less, of the prince’s pages, and gentlemen of his bed-chamber, taken out from among the first quality of his court, richly clad, and walking two and two before his norimono. 9. The prince himself, sitting in a stately norimono, carried by six or eight men, clad in rich liveries, with several others walking at the norimono’s sides, to take it up by turns; also, two or three gentlemen of the prince’s bed-chamber, to give him what he wants and asks for, and to assist and support him in getting in or out. 10. Two or three horses of state, the saddles covered with black. One of these horses carries a large elbow-chair, which is sometimes covered with black velvet. These horses are attended each by several grooms and footmen in liveries, and some are led by the prince’s own pages. 11. Two pike-bearers. 12. Ten or more people, carrying each two baskets of a monstrous size, fixed to the ends of a pole, which they lay on their shoulders in such a manner that one basket hangs down before and the other behind them. These baskets are more for state than for any use. Sometimes some chest-bearers walk among them, to increase the troop. In this order marches the prince’s own train, which is followed by six to twelve led horses with their leaders, grooms, and footmen, all in liveries. The procession is closed by a multitude of the prince’s domestics and other officers of his court, with their own numerous trains and attendants, pike-bearers, chest-bearers, and footmen, in liveries. Some of these are carried in kago, and the whole troop is headed by the prince’s high-steward, carried in a norimono. If one of the prince’s sons accompanies his father in this journey to court, he follows with his own train immediately after his father’s norimono.
“It is a sight exceedingly curious and worthy of admiration, to see all the persons who compose the numerous train of a great prince, clad, the pike-bearers, the norimono-men and livery-men only excepted, in black silk, marching in an elegant order, with a decent, becoming gravity, and keeping so profound a silence that not the least noise is to be heard, save what must necessarily arise from the motion and rushing of their dresses, and the trampling of the horses and men. On the other hand, it appears ridiculous to an European to see all the pike-bearers and norimono-men, with their clothes tucked up above their waists, exposing their nakedness to the spectators’ view, with only a piece of cloth about their loins. What appears still more old and whimsical is to see the pages, pike-bearers, umbrella and hat bearers, chest-bearers, and all the footmen in liveries, affect, when they pass through some remarkable town, or by the train of another prince or lord, a strange mimic march or dance. Every step they make, they draw up one foot quite to their backs, stretching out the arm on the opposite side as far as they can, and putting themselves in such a posture as if they had a mind to swim through the air. Meanwhile the pikes, hats, umbrellas, chests, boxes, baskets, and whatever else they carry are danced and tossed about in a very singular manner, answering to the motion of their bodies. The norimono-men, who have their sleeves tied with a string as near the shoulders as possible, so as to leave their arms naked, carry the pole of the norimono either upon their shoulders, or else upon the palms of their hands, holding it above their heads. Whilst they hold it up with one arm, they stretch out the other, putting the hand into a horizontal posture, whereby, and by their short, deliberate steps and stiff knees, they affect a ridiculous fear and circumspection. If the prince steps out of his norimono into one of the green huts which are purposely built for him at convenient distances on the road, or if he goes into a private house, either to drink a dish of tea or for any other purpose, he always leaves a koban with the landlord as a reward for his trouble. At dinner or supper the expense is much greater.
“All the pilgrims who go to Ise, whatever province of the empire they come from, must travel over part of this great road. This pilgrimage is made at all times of the year, but particularly in the spring, at which season vast multitudes of these pilgrims are seen upon the roads. The Japanese of both sexes, young and old, rich and poor, undertake this meritorious journey, generally speaking, on foot, in order to obtain, at this holy place, indulgences and remission of their sins. Some of these pilgrims are so poor that they must live wholly upon what they get by begging. On this account, and by reason of their great number, they are exceedingly troublesome to the princes and lords who at that time of the year go to court, or come thence, though otherwise they address themselves in a very civil manner, bareheaded, and with a low, submissive voice, saying, ‘Great Lord, be pleased to give the poor pilgrim a zeni, towards the expense of his journey to Ise,’ or words to that effect. Of all the Japanese, the inhabitants of Yedo and the province Oshū are the most inclined to this pilgrimage. Children, if apprehensive of severe punishment for their misdemeanors, will run away from their parents and go to Ise, thence to fetch an Oharai, or indulgence, which upon their return is deemed a sufficient expiation of their crimes, and a sure means to reconcile them to their friends. Multitudes of these pilgrims are obliged to pass whole nights lying in the open fields, exposed to all the injuries of wind and weather, some for want of room in inns, others out of poverty; and of these last many are found dead upon the road, in which case their Oharai, if they have any about them, is carefully taken up and hid in the next tree or bush.
“Others make this pilgrimage in a comical and merry way, drawing people’s eyes upon them as well as getting their money. They form themselves into companies, generally of four persons, clad in white linen, after the fashion of the Kuge, or persons of the holy ecclesiastical court of the Dairi. Two of them walking a grave, slow, deliberate pace, and standing often still, carry a large barrow, adorned and hung about with fir-branches and cut white paper, on which they place a resemblance of a large bell, made of light substance, or a kettle, or something else, alluding to some old romantic history of their gods and ancestors; whilst a third, with a commander’s staff in his hand, adorned, out of respect to his office, with a bunch of white paper, walks, or rather dances, before the barrow, singing with a dull, heavy voice, a song relating to the subject they are about to represent. Meanwhile, the fourth goes begging before the houses, or addresses himself to charitable travellers, and receives and keeps the money which is given them. Their day’s journeys are so short that they can easily spend the whole summer upon such an expedition.
“The Junrei, another remarkable sight travellers meet with upon the roads, are people who go to visit in pilgrimage the thirty-three chief Kwannon temples, which lie dispersed throughout the empire. They commonly travel two or three together, singing a miserable Kwannon-song from house to house, and sometimes playing upon a fiddle, or upon a guitar, as vagabond beggars do in Germany. However, they do not importune travellers for their charity. They have the names of such Kwannon temples as they have not yet visited writ upon a small board hanging about their necks. They are clad in white, after a very singular fashion, peculiar only to this sect. Some people like so well to ramble about the country after this manner that they will apply themselves to no other trade and profession, but choose to end their days in this perpetual pilgrimage.