Part 59 (1/2)
CHAPTER XVII.
Excursion to Asamayama--The Nakasendo road--Takasaki-- Difficulty of obtaining quarters for the night--The Baths at Ikaho--Ma.s.sage in j.a.pan--Swedish matches--Travelling in _Kago_--Savavatari--Criminals--Kusatsu--The Hot Springs and their healing power--Rest at Rokuriga-hara--The summit of Asamayama--The descent--Journey over Usui-toge-- j.a.panese actors--Pictures of j.a.panese folk-life-- Return to Yokohama.
On the 28th September, early in the morning, accompanied by Lieut.
Hovgaard, Herr Bavier, an interpreter, and a j.a.panese cook skilled in European cookery, I started on a journey to Asamayama. At first we travelled in two very rattling and inconvenient carriages, drawn each by a pair of horses, to the town Takasaki, situated on the great road ”Nakasendo,” which pa.s.ses through the interior of the country and connects Tokio and Kioto. This road is considered something grand by the j.a.panese. In Sweden it would be called an indifferently kept district road. On this road _jinrikishas_ are met in thousands, and a great many horses, oxen, and men, _bearing_ heavy burdens, but with the exception of the posting carriages, by which, for some years back, a regular communication between Tokio and Takasaki has been kept up, not a single wheeled vehicle drawn by horses or oxen, and though the road pa.s.ses through an unbroken series of populous villages, surrounded by well cultivated rice fields and small gardens, there is not a single workhorse or work-ox to be seen. For all the ground in j.a.pan is cultivated by the hand, and there are few cattle.
Most of the roads in the country consist of foot-paths, so narrow that two laden horses can pa.s.s each other only with difficulty.
Goods are therefore carried, where there is no ca.n.a.l or river, for the most part by men. The plains are extraordinarily well cultivated, and we must specially admire the industry with which water-courses have been cut and the uneven slopes changed into level terraces.
The post-horses on Nakasendo were so poor and wretched that in Sweden one would have been liable to punishment for cruelty to animals for using them. They went, however, at a pretty good speed.
There were places for changing horses at regular distances of fifteen to twenty kilometres. The driver besides halted often on the way at some dwelling-house to take a couple of scoopfuls of water out of the water-vessel standing before it and throw them into the horses' mouths and between their hind-legs. The opportunity was always taken advantage of by the girls of the house to come out and offer the travellers a small cup of j.a.panese tea, an act of courtesy that was repaid with some friendly words and a copper coin.
When we visited any of the peasants' gardens by the wayside we were always received with extreme friendliness, either on a special dais in the common room looking to the road, or in an inner room whose floor was covered with a mat of dazzling whiteness, and on whose walls hung pictures, with songs and mottoes. The brazier was brought forward, tea and sweetmeats were handed round, all with lively conversation and frequent bows. The difference between the palace of the rich (if we may distinguish with the name any building in j.a.pan) and the dwelling of the less well-to-do is much smaller here than in Europe. We did not see any beggars in our journey into the interior of the country.[379] Nor did the distraction of cla.s.s appear to be so sharp as might be expected in a land where the evils of rank had been so great as in Old j.a.pan. We several times saw in the inns by the roadside, people of condition who were travelling in _jinrikishas_ eat their rice and drink their _saki_ together with the coolies who were drawing their vehicles.
To judge by the crowds of children who swarmed everywhere along the roads the people must be very prolific. A girl of eight or ten years of age was seldom to be seen without another young one bound on her back. This burden did not appear to trouble the sister or attendant very much. Without giving herself any concern about the child or thinking of its existence, she took part actively in games, ran errands, &c.
Even in the interior of the country foreigners are received with great friendliness. The lower cla.s.ses in j.a.pan have also reason for this, for whatever influence the latest political changes may have had on the old _kuge_, _daimio_, and _samurai_ families of j.a.pan, the position of the cultivator of the soil is now much more secure than before, when he was harmed by hundreds of small tyrants. His dress is the same as before, with the exception, however, that a great proportion of the male population, even far into the interior, have laid aside the old troublesome way of collecting the hair in a knot over a close shaven spot on the crown of the head. Instead, they wear their thick raven-black hair cut short in the European style.
How distinctive of the new period this change is may be seen from the eagerness with which the j.a.panese authorities questioned GOLOVIN about the religious and political revolutions which they a.s.sumed to have been connected with the change in the European mode of wearing the hair during the commencement of the nineteenth century, for the Russian amba.s.sador LAXMAN, who was highly esteemed by the j.a.panese, had worn a pig-tail and powdered hair, while Golovin and his companions had their hair unpowdered and cut short.[380] When it is warm the workmen wear only a small, generally light-blue, girdle round the waist and between the legs. Otherwise they are naked.
They are thus seen to be in many cases strongly tattooed over the greater part of the body. I have not seen the women working naked.
They perhaps do so at the warmest season of the year. At least they do not refrain from undressing completely while bathing right in the midst of a crowd of men known and unknown, a state of things which at first, in consequence of the power of prejudice, shocks the European, but to which even the former prude gets accustomed sooner than one would suppose. We even frequently see European ladies drawn in a _jinrikisha_ by a youth completely naked with the exception of the blue girdle. Many, especially of the younger men, have besides so well-formed a body, that the sculptor who could accurately reproduce it in marble would at once attain a reputation co-extensive with the globe.
Takasaki is the residence of a governor, with a population of about 20,000; but, like most of the towns of j.a.pan, it differs little from many of the villages we pa.s.sed through. We arrived late in the evening, and there had our first and last experience of an inconvenience of which Europeans often complain in travelling in j.a.pan, and to which they have themselves given occasion by the offensive way in which they not unfrequently behave. We knocked at the door of one inn after another without being received. At one place ”the house was full,” at another ”the rooms were under repair,” at a third ”the inn people were out,” &c. At last we had to apply to the police. When we had shown them our pa.s.sport, we succeeded with their help in getting a night's lodging with an elderly host, who received us with a countenance which clearly indicated that he would rather have hewn us in pieces with one of the two swords he had formerly as _samurai_ been ent.i.tled to wear, than received us under his roof. After our entrance he still turned to the police official with the cry of lamentation: ”Must I then actually receive these barbarians?” But we had our revenge in a n.o.ble way. We took off our boots before we entered the room, were so profuse with talk, civilities, and bows, and on the whole behaved in such a courteous fas.h.i.+on, that our previously distracted host not only bade us welcome back, but also gave us a letter of introduction to the innkeepers at an inn where we were to stay next, declaring that if we showed this letter we need not fear any such disagreeable adventure as that just described.
Most of the houses in the j.a.panese towns are built of pretty thin, carefully joined timbers. But besides these there are to be seen here and there small houses with very thick walls, windows provided with heavy iron gratings, and doors that could be fastened with large locks and bolts. These houses are fire-resisting, and are used as storehouses for valuables and household articles when there is danger of fire. Fires are so common in j.a.pan that it is supposed that a tenth part of every town is burned down yearly. The fireman corps is numerous, well ordered from old times, its members bold and daring. During our stay overnight at Takasaki we were lodged in such a fireproof house, in very large clean apartments with the floor partly covered with carpets after the European pattern. The walls were very thick and of brick, the interior fittings and stairs on the other hand of wood.
I have just mentioned that we were compelled to resort to the police in order to obtain quarters for the night. Policemen are numerous in j.a.pan, both in town and country. For the most part they are taken from the former _samurai_ cla.s.s. They are clothed in the European style, and walk, with a long stick in a certain position under the arm, quietly and calmly on the streets and roads, without, except in cases of necessity, making any show of their authority. Commonly they are, or appear to be, young, and all have a gentlemanlike appearance. In a word, they appear to be equal to the best European police of the present day, and stand immeasurably above the guardian of the peace, or rather the raiser of dispeace, as he appeared some decades ago on the European continent. During the latest revolt the police were employed by the Government as infantry, and elicited general admiration by the fire, the gallantry, and the contempt of death with which they went into action with their old favourite weapon, the j.a.panese sword.
A pa.s.sport is still required for travelling in the interior of the country, but this is easily obtained at the request of the consul if health or the wish to prosecute researches be given as the reason, it being possible perhaps to include common love of travelling under the latter head. Commercial travelling is not yet permitted in the interior, nor is the right of settling for the purpose of carrying on business granted to Europeans. The foreign amba.s.sadors have often entered into negotiations in order to bring about a change on this point, but hitherto without success, because the Government, as a condition for the complete opening of the country, require the abrogation of the unreasonable ”extraterritorial” arrangement which is in force, and by which the foreigner is not subject to the common laws and courts of j.a.pan, but to the laws of his own country, administered by consular courts. An alteration in this point may however be brought about in a short time, as j.a.pan will soon be sufficiently powerful to be able to abrogate all the injurious paragraphs in her treaties with the civilised countries of Europe.
Now, besides, the amba.s.sadors of the foreign powers, who in former times all acted together, have divided into two parties, of which one--Russia and America--wishes, or at least feigns to wish, gradually to free j.a.pan from all tutelage and to place it on an equality with other civilised countries, the other again--England, Germany, Holland, and France--wishes still to retain the guardians.h.i.+p, which was established by violence, and confirmed by treaty several years ago.
Shortly before our arrival a quarrel took place between j.a.pan and the European powers about, as the j.a.panese themselves said, a breach of international law, which caused much irritation in the country. A German vessel coming from Nagasaki, where the cholera was raging, on the advice of the German minister broke the quarantine prescribed by the Government, and without further precautions discharged her cargo in the harbour of Yokohama. That the cholera in this town was thereby _made worse_ is indeed not only unproved but also undoubtedly incorrect, though many j.a.panese in their irritation positively affirmed that this was the case, but the words that were uttered by j.a.pan's _feted_ guest, ex-President General GRANT,[381]
that the j.a.panese Government had the right without more ado to sink the vessel, have left a memory in the minds both of the Government and of the people, which may in the future lead them to a perhaps unwise but fully justified exertion of their strength were such a deed to be repeated.
The first impression of the j.a.panese, both men and women, is exceedingly pleasant, but many Europeans who have lived a considerable time in the country say that this impression is not maintained, a circ.u.mstance which in my belief depends more on the Europeans themselves than on the j.a.panese. For the European merchants are said not to find it so easy to cut gold here with a case-knife as before, and the amba.s.sadors of the Great Powers find it day by day more difficult to maintain their old commanding standpoint towards a government which knows that a great future is before the country, if inconsiderate ambition or unlooked-for misfortune do not unexpectedly hinder its development. Another reproach, that the j.a.panese can imitate what another has done, but is unable himself to invent anything new, appears on the other hand to be justified in the meantime. But it is unreasonable to demand that a nation should not only in a few decades pa.s.s through a development for which centuries have been required in Europe, but also immediately reach the summit of the knowledge of our time so as to be at the same time creative. But it would be wonderful, if the natural science, literature, and art of the nineteenth century, transplanted among a gifted people, with a culture so peculiar and so pervasive, and with an art-sense so developed as those of j.a.pan, did not in time produce new, splendid, and unexpected fruit. The same irresistible necessity which now drives the j.a.panese to learn all that the European and the American know, will, when he has reached that goal, spur him on to go further up the Nile river of research.
A short distance beyond Takasaki the road to the volcano to which we were on our way, was no longer along Nakasendo, and we could therefore no longer continue our journey in carriages drawn by horses, but were compelled to content ourselves with _jinrikishas_.
In these, on the 29th of September, we traversed in five and a half hours the very hilly road to Ikaho, noted for its baths, situated at a height of 700 metres above the sea. The landscape here a.s.sumes a quite different stamp. The road which before ran over an unbroken plain, thickly peopled, and cultivated like a garden, now begins to pa.s.s between steep uncultivated hills, overgrown with tall, uncut, withered gra.s.s, separated by valleys in which run purling rivulets, nearly concealed by exceedingly luxuriant bushy thickets. Ikaho is celebrated for the warm, or more correctly hot, springs which well up from the volcanic hills which surround the little town, which is beautifully situated on a slope. As at the baths of Europe, invalids seek here a remedy for their ailments, and the town therefore consists almost exclusively of hotels, baths, and shops for the visitors. The baths are situated, partly in large open wooden sheds, where men and women bathe together without distinction, partly in private houses. In every bath there is a basin one metre in depth, to which a constant stream of water is conducted from some of the hot springs. The spring water has of course cooled very much before it is used, but is still so hot notwithstanding that I could only with difficulty remain in it a couple of seconds.
In the streets of the town we often met blind persons who walked about very safely without any attendant, only feeling their way with a long bamboo. They blew a short pipe now and then to warn pa.s.sers-by of their presence. I thought at first that these unfortunates were trying to regain the sight of the eye at the hot springs, but on inquiring whether the water was beneficial in that respect, I was informed that they were not there as seekers after health, but as ”ma.s.sageurs” (shampooers). Ma.s.sage has been in use in j.a.pan for several centuries back, and therefore persons are often to be met with in the streets offering their services as ma.s.sageurs, crying in the streets in about the same way as the fruit-sellers in Russia.
The inn where we lodged for the night, consisted as usual of a number of very clean rooms covered with mats, without furniture, but ornamented with songs and mottoes on the walls. One would live here exceedingly well, if like the j.a.panese he could manage to live wholly on the floor and conform carefully to the indispensable rules, an observance which besides is necessary, because otherwise the inmate is exposed to a very unfriendly reception not only from his host but also from the attendants. An inconvenience in travelling in j.a.pan is the difficulty a European has in accustoming himself to the dietary of the j.a.panese. Bread they do not use, nor meat, but their food consists mainly of rice and fish, with fowls, fruit, mushrooms, sweetmeats, j.a.panese tea, &c., in addition. Fish is generally eaten raw, and in that case is said to differ little in taste from our pickled salmon. The food is not unfrequently cooked with fish oils of anything but an agreeable taste. If a traveller wishes to avoid this dietary, he must have his own cook with him on the journey. In this capacity there attended us a j.a.panese, whose name was Senkiti-San, but who was commonly called by his companions Kok-San (Mr. Cook). He had learned European (French) cooking at Yokohama, and during the journey devoted himself with so great zeal to his calling, that even in the deserts at the foot of Asamayama he gave himself no rest until he could offer us a dinner of five dishes, consisting of chicken soup, fowl omelette, fowl-beefsteak, fowl _frica.s.se_, and omelette _aux confitures_, all thus consisting only of fowls and hens' eggs, cooked in different ways.
For some years back lucifer matches have been an article of necessity in j.a.pan, and it was pleasing to us Swedes to observe that the Swedish matches have here a distinct preference over those of other countries. In nearly every little shop, even in the interior of the country, are to be seen the well-known boxes with the inscription ”Sakerhets tandstickor utan svafvel och fosfor.” But if we examine the boxes more carefully, we find upon many of them, along with the magic sentence unintelligible to the j.a.panese, an inscription indicating that they have been made by some j.a.panese manufacturer. On other boxes this is completely wanting, but the falsification is shown by an unfortunate error in the inscription.
It thus appears that the Swedish matches are not only introduced into j.a.pan on a large scale, but are also counterfeited, being made with the Swedish inscription on the box and with a cover resembling that used at home. The imitation, however, is not nearly so good as the original, and my j.a.panese servant bade me therefore, when I purchased a box of matches, observe carefully that I got one of the right (Swedish) sort.
Photography also has spread so rapidly in the country that at many places in small towns and villages in the interior j.a.panese photographers are to be met with who put out of their hands by no means bad work. The j.a.panese appear to have a great liking for having their by no means remarkable dwellings photographed. On several occasions, when we left a place we received from our host as a parting gift a photograph of his house or inn. Perhaps this was done with the same view as that which induces his European brother-in-trade to advertise at great expense.