“Nor must I forget to take notice of the numberless wenches, the great and small inns, and the tea-booths and cook-shops in villages and hamlets are furnished withal. About noon, when they have done dressing and painting themselves, they make their appearance, standing under the door of the house, or sitting upon the small gallery around it, whence, with a smiling countenance and good words, they invite the travelling troops that pass by to call in at their inn, preferably to others. In some places, where there are several inns standing near one another, they make, with their chattering and rattling, no inconsiderable noise, and prove not a little troublesome.
“I cannot forbear mentioning in this place a small mistake of Mr. Caron, in his account of Japan, where he shows so tender a regard for the honor of the Japanese sex (perhaps out of respect to his lady, who was a Japan woman) as to assert that, except in the privileged houses devoted to it, this trade is not elsewhere carried on. It is unquestionably true that there is hardly a public inn upon the great island Nippon, but what is provided with courtesans, and if too many customers resort to one place, the neighboring inn-keepers will lend their wenches, on condition that what money they get shall be faithfully paid them. Nor is it a new custom come up but lately, or since Mr. Caron’s time. On the contrary, it is of very old date, and took its rise, as the Japanese say, many hundred years ago, in the times of that brave general and first secular monarch, Yoritomo, who, apprehensive lest his soldiers, weary of his long and tedious expeditions, and desirous to return home to their wives and children, should desert his army, thought it much more advisable to indulge them in this particular.”
CHAPTER XXXIV
Departure from Nagasaki—Train of the Dutch—The Day’s Journey—Treatment of the Dutch—Respect shown them in the Island of Shimo—Care with which they are watched—Inns at which they lodge—Their Reception and Treatment there—Politeness of the Japanese—Lucky and Unlucky Days—Seimei, the Astrologer.
“All the princes, lords, and vassals of the Japanese empire being obliged,” says Kämpfer, “to make their appearance at court once a year, it hath been determined by the emperor what time and what day they are to set out on their journey. The same is observed with regard to the Dutch, and the fifteenth or sixteenth day of the first Japanese month, which commonly falls in with the middle of our February, hath been fixed for our constant departure. Towards that time we get everything ready to set out, having first sent by sea, as already mentioned, to the city of Shimonoseki the presents we are to make, sorted and carefully packed, together with the other heavy baggage, and the victuals and kitchen furniture for our future travels. Three or four weeks after, and a few days before our departure, our president, attended with his usual train, goes to visit the two governors of Nagasaki, at their palaces, to take his leave of them, and to recommend the Dutch who remain in our factory to their favor and protection. The next day, all the goods and other things which must be carried along with us are marked—every bale or trunk—with a small board, whereupon is writ the possessor’s name, and the contents. The day of our departure, all the officers of our island, and all persons who are any ways concerned with our affairs, particularly the future companions of our voyage, come over to Deshima early in the morning. They are followed soon after by both governors, attended with their whole numerous court, or else by their deputies, who come to wish us a good journey. The governors—or their deputies—having been entertained as usual upon this occasion, and taken their leave, are by us accompanied out of our island, which is done commonly about nine in the morning, at which time, also, we set out on our journey. The Bugiō, or commander-in-chief, of our train, and the Dutch president, enter their norimono. The chief interpreter, if he be old, is carried in an ordinary kago; others mount on horseback, and the servants go a-foot. All the Japanese officers of our island, and several friends and acquaintances of our Japanese companions, keep us company out of the town so far as the next inn.
“Our train is not the same in the three several parts of our journey. Over the island Kiūshiū it may amount, with all the servants and footmen, as also the gentlemen whom the lords of the several provinces we pass through send to compliment us, and to keep us company during our stay in their dominions, to about an hundred persons. In our voyage by sea it is not much less, all the sailors and watermen taken in. In the last part, over the great island Nippon, from Ōsaka to Yedo, it is considerably greater, and consists of no less than an hundred and fifty people, and this, by reason of the presents and other goods which came from Nagasaki, as far as Ōsaka by sea, but must now be taken out and carried by land to Yedo, by horses and men.
In a Japanese Garden
“All our heavy baggage is commonly sent away some hours before we set out ourselves, lest it should be a hindrance to us, as, also, to give timely notice to our landlords of our arrival. We set out early in the morning, and, save only one hour for dinner, travel till evening, and sometimes till late at night, making from ten to thirteen Japanese leagues a day. In our voyage by sea we put into some harbor, and come to an anchor every night, advancing forty Japanese water-leagues a day at farthest.
“We are better treated, and more honorably received, in our journey over Kiūshiū than upon the great island Nippon, though everywhere we have much more civility shown us by the inhabitants of the cities and districts through which we pass, than by our Nagasakian companions and our own servants, who eat our bread and travel at our expense. In our journey across the island Kiūshiū we receive nearly the same honors and civility from the lords of the several provinces we pass through as they show to travelling princes and their retinues. The roads are swept and cleaned before us, and in cities and villages they are watered to lay the dust. The common people, laborers, and idle spectators, who are so very troublesome to travellers upon the great island Nippon, are kept out of the way, and the inhabitants of the houses on either side of the roads and streets see us go by, either sitting in the back part of their houses, or kneeling in the fore part, behind a screen, with great respect and in a profound silence. All the princes and lords whose dominions we are to pass through send one of their noblemen to compliment us, as soon as we enter upon their territories; but, as he is not suffered to address us in person, he makes his compliment in his master’s name to the Bugiō, or commander-in-chief of our train, and to the chief interpreter, offering, at the same time, what houses and men we want for us and our baggage. He likewise orders four footmen to walk by every Dutchman’s side, and two gentlemen of some note at his court, who are clad in black silk, with staffs in their hands, to precede the whole train. After this manner they lead us through their master’s territories, and, when we come to the limits thereof, the Japanese companions of our voyage are treated with sake and sakana, and so they take their leave. For our passage over the bays of Ōmura and Shimabara the lords of these two places lend us their own pleasure-barges and their own watermen besides that they furnish us with abundance of provisions, without expecting even so much as a small present in return for their civil and courteous behavior; and yet our thievish interpreters never miss to lay hold of this advantage, putting this article upon our accounts as if we had actually been at the expense; and they commonly put the money into their own pockets. In our whole journey from Nagasaki to Kokura, everybody we meet with shows us and our train that deference and respect which is due only to the princes and lords of the country. Private travellers, whether they travel on foot or on horseback, must retire out of the way,—those who hesitate about it being compelled to it by the officers,—and, bareheaded, humbly bowing, wait in the next field till our whole retinue is gone by. I took notice of some country people, who do not only retire out of the way, but turn us their back, as not worthy to behold us,—the greatest mark of civility a Japanese can possibly show. None, or but few, of these public marks of honor and respect are shown us in our journey over the great island Nippon.”