Fears - Travelling Equipments - Passports - Coolie Costume - A Yedo
Diorama - Rice-Fields - Tea-Houses - A Traveller's Reception - The Inn
at Kasukabe - Lack of Privacy - A Concourse of Noises - A Nocturnal
Alarm - A Vision of Policemen - A Budget from Yedo.
KASUKABE, June 10.
From the date you will see that I have started on my long journey,
though not upon the "unbeaten tracks" which I hope to take after
leaving Nikko, and my first evening alone in the midst of this
crowded Asian life is strange, almost fearful. I have suffered
from nervousness all day - the fear of being frightened, of being
rudely mobbed, as threatened by Mr. Campbell of Islay, of giving
offence by transgressing the rules of Japanese politeness - of, I
know not what! Ito is my sole reliance, and he may prove a "broken
reed." I often wished to give up my project, but was ashamed of my
cowardice when, on the best authority, I received assurances of its
safety. {6}
The preparations were finished yesterday, and my outfit weighed 110
lbs., which, with Ito's weight of 90 lbs., is as much as can be
carried by an average Japanese horse. My two painted wicker boxes
lined with paper and with waterproof covers are convenient for the
two sides of a pack-horse. I have a folding-chair - for in a
Japanese house there is nothing but the floor to sit upon, and not
even a solid wall to lean against - an air-pillow for kuruma
travelling, an india-rubber bath, sheets, a blanket, and last, and
more important than all else, a canvas stretcher on light poles,
which can be put together in two minutes; and being 2.5 feet high
is supposed to be secure from fleas. The "Food Question" has been
solved by a modified rejection of all advice! I have only brought
a small supply of Liebig's extract of meat, 4 lbs. of raisins, some
chocolate, both for eating and drinking, and some brandy in case of
need. I have my own Mexican saddle and bridle, a reasonable
quantity of clothes, including a loose wrapper for wearing in the
evenings, some candles, Mr. Brunton's large map of Japan, volumes
of the Transactions of the English Asiatic Society, and Mr. Satow's
Anglo-Japanese Dictionary. My travelling dress is a short costume
of dust-coloured striped tweed, with strong laced boots of
unblacked leather, and a Japanese hat, shaped like a large inverted
bowl, of light bamboo plait, with a white cotton cover, and a very
light frame inside, which fits round the brow and leaves a space of
1.5 inches between the hat and the head for the free circulation of
air. It only weighs 2.5 ounces, and is infinitely to be preferred
to a heavy pith helmet, and, light as it is, it protects the head
so thoroughly, that, though the sun has been unclouded all day and
the mercury at 86 degrees, no other protection has been necessary.
My money is in bundles of 50 yen, and 50, 20, and 10 sen notes,
besides which I have some rouleaux of copper coins. I have a bag
for my passport, which hangs to my waist. All my luggage, with the
exception of my saddle, which I use for a footstool, goes into one
kuruma, and Ito, who is limited to 12 lbs., takes his along with
him.
I have three kurumas, which are to go to Nikko, ninety miles, in
three days, without change of runners, for about eleven shillings
each.
Passports usually define the route over which the foreigner is to
travel, but in this case Sir H. Parkes has obtained one which is
practically unrestricted, for it permits me to travel through all
Japan north of Tokiyo and in Yezo without specifying any route.
This precious document, without which I should be liable to be
arrested and forwarded to my consul, is of course in Japanese, but
the cover gives in English the regulations under which it is
issued. A passport must be applied for, for reasons of "health,
botanical research, or scientific investigation." Its bearer must
not light fires in woods, attend fires on horseback, trespass on
fields, enclosures, or game-preserves, scribble on temples,
shrines, or walls, drive fast on a narrow road, or disregard
notices of "No thoroughfare." He must "conduct himself in an
orderly and conciliating manner towards the Japanese authorities
and people;" he "must produce his passport to any officials who may
demand it," under pain of arrest; and while in the interior "is
forbidden to shoot, trade, to conclude mercantile contracts with
Japanese, or to rent houses or rooms for a longer period than his
journey requires."
NIKKO, June 13. - This is one of the paradises of Japan! It is a
proverbial saying, "He who has not seen Nikko must not use the word
kek'ko" (splendid, delicious, beautiful); but of this more
hereafter. My attempt to write to you from Kasukabe failed, owing
to the onslaught of an army of fleas, which compelled me to retreat
to my stretcher, and the last two nights, for this and other
reasons, writing has been out of the question.
I left the Legation at 11 am. on Monday and reached Kasukabe at 5
p.m., the runners keeping up an easy trot the whole journey of
twenty-three miles; but the halts for smoking and eating were
frequent.
These kuruma-runners wore short blue cotton drawers, girdles with
tobacco pouch and pipe attached, short blue cotton shirts with wide
sleeves, and open in front, reaching to their waists, and blue
cotton handkerchiefs knotted round their heads, except when the sun
was very hot, when they took the flat flag discs, two feet in
diameter, which always hang behind kurumas, and are used either in
sun or rain, and tied them on their heads. They wore straw
sandals, which had to be replaced twice on the way. Blue and white
towels hung from the shafts to wipe away the sweat, which ran
profusely down the lean, brown bodies.
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