The Voyage Of The Vega Round Asia And Europe Part 61

The dancing-girls are recruited exclusively from the poorer cla.s.ses, pretty young girls, to help their parents or to earn some styvers for themselves, selling themselves for a certain time to the owners of the dancing-places, and when the time agreed upon has come to an end returning to their homes, where notwithstanding this they marry without difficulty. All the dancing-girls therefore are young, many of them pretty even according to European ideas, though their appearance is destroyed in our eyes by the tasteless way in which they paint themselves and colour their lips. Unfortunately I had not time to avail myself of the opportunity which Kioto offers the foreigner of judging with certainty regarding the j.a.panese taste in female beauty. For here, as at various other j.a.panese towns, there are a number of girls who have been officially selected as the most beautiful among the youth of the place. The j.a.panese may visit them for a certain payment, but to Europeans they do not show themselves willingly, and only for a large sum. When this takes place at any time, it is only a dumb show for a few moments, during which no words are exchanged.

[Ill.u.s.tration: j.a.pANESE COURT DRESS. ]

The Governor had promised to carry me round next day to see whatever was remarkable in the town. I was not much delighted at this, because I feared that the whole day would be taken up with inspecting the whole or half-European public offices and schools, which had not the slightest interest for me. My fear however was quite unjustified. The Governor was a man of genius, who, according to the statements of my companions, was reckoned among the first of the contemporary poets of j.a.pan. He immediately declared that he supposed that the new public offices and schools would interest me much less than the old palaces, temples, porcelain and _faence_ manufactories of the town, and that he therefore intended to employ the day I spent under his guidance in showing me the latter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: n.o.bLE IN ANTIQUE DRESS. ]

We made a beginning with the old imperial palace Gosho, the most splendid dwelling of Old j.a.pan. It is not however very grand according to European ideas. A very extensive s.p.a.ce of ground is here covered with a number of one-story wooden houses, intended for the Emperor, the imperial family, and their suite. The buildings are, like all j.a.panese houses, divided by movable panels into a number of rooms, richly provided with paintings and gilded ornamentation, but otherwise without a trace of furniture. For the palace now stands uninhabited since the Mikado overthrew the Shogun dynasty and removed to Tokio. It already gives a striking picture of the change which has taken place in the land. Only the imperial family and the great men of the country were formerly permitted to enter the sacred precincts of Gosho. Now it stands open to every curious native or foreigner and it has even as an exhibition building been already pressed into the service of industry.

Alongside the large buildings there are several small ones, of which one was intended to protect the Emperor-deity during earthquakes, the others formed play-places for the company of grown children who were then permitted to govern the country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUDDHIST PRIEST. ]

Much more remarkable and instructive than the now deserted imperial palace are the numerous temples at Kioto, of which we visited several. We were generally received by the priests in a large vestibule, whose floor was covered with a fine woollen carpet and was provided with tables and chairs of European patterns. The priests first offered us j.a.panese tea, cigars, and sweetmeats, then we examined some valuable articles exhibited in the room, consisting of bronzes, works in the n.o.ble metals, splendid old lacquer work, and a number of famous swords dedicated to the temple. These were the only things that our freethinking Governor treated with reverence, for the rest neither the priests nor their reliques seemed to inspire him with any particular respect.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A SAMURAI. ]

When a valuable j.a.panese sword is exhibited one touches neither the hilt nor the scabbard, and of course still less the blade, with the bare hand, but it is taken hold of either with a gloved hand, or with the hand with a handkerchief or piece of cloth wrapped round it. The blade is only half bared, the steel setting is looked at against the light and admired; on the often exceedingly valuable blades which are not mounted, but only provided with a wooden case to protect them from rust, the maker's mark is examined, and so on.

As among us in former times, the swordsmith's is the only handicraft which in old times was held in high esteem in j.a.pan, and immense sums were often paid for sword-blades forged by famous masters of the art. Among old j.a.panese writings are to be found many works specially treating of the making of weapons. But since the swordsmen (_samurai_) have now been forbidden to show themselves armed, old j.a.panese swords are sold in all the towns by hundreds and thousands, often for a trifle. During our stay in the country I purchased for a comparatively limited sum a fine collection of such weapons. Even those who cannot appreciate the artistic forging of the blade, the steel-setting, and tempering, must admire the exceedingly tasteful casting and embossing of the ornamentation, especially of the guard-plates of the sword. They are often veritable works of art, unsurpa.s.sed in style and execution.

It is not very many years ago since the men who belonged to the _samurai_ cla.s.s never showed themselves abroad without being armed with two swords. Even schoolboys went armed to the first European schools that were established in the country. This gave occasion to several acts of violence during the time which succeeded the opening of the ports, for which reason the European amba.s.sadors some years after requested that carrying the sword in time of peace should be prohibited. To this the j.a.panese government answered that it would make short work with the minister who should publish such a prohibition. Soon after, however, it gave _permission_ to those who desired it to go without weapons, and the carrying of arms soon became so unfashionable that one of the authorities did dare at last to issue a distinct prohibition of it. During our stay in j.a.pan, accordingly, we did not see a single man armed with the two swords formerly in use.

After we had seen and admired the treasures in the temple vestibule, we visited the temple itself. This is always of wood, richly ornamented with carvings and gilding. If it is dedicated to Shinto, there are no images in it, and very few ornaments, if we except a mirror and a large locked press with the doors smashed in, which sometimes occupies the wall opposite the entrance, and in which, as I have already stated, the spirit of the deity is said to dwell. The Shinto temples are in general poor. Many are so inconsiderable as to look almost like dovecotes. They are often completely deserted, so that it is difficult to discover them among the magnificent trees by which they were surrounded. The entrance to the temple is indicated by a gate (_torryi_) of wood, stone, or copper, and here and there are ropes, stretched over the way, to which written prayers and vows are affixed.

Even those who have long studied j.a.pan and its literature have very little knowledge of the inner essence of Shintoism. This religion is considered by some a pure deism, by others a belief with political aims, the followers of which worship the departed heroes of the country. Of a developed morality this religion is wholly devoid. In the same way it appears to be uncertain whether Shintoism is a survival of the original religion of the country or whether it has been brought from abroad.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GATE ACROSS THE ROAD TO A SHINTO TEMPLE. ]

Buddhism was introduced from China by Corea. Its temples are more ornamented than the Shinto temples, and contain images of deities, bells, drums, holy books, and a great quant.i.ty of altar ornaments.

The transmigration of souls, and rewards and punishments in a life after this, are doctrines of Buddhism. Outside the temples proper there are to be found in many places large or small images in stone or bronze of the deities of Buddha. The largest of these consist of colossal statues in bronze (_Daibutsu_), representing Buddha in a sitting position, and themselves forming the screen to a temple with smaller images. A similar statue is also to be found at Kamakura, another at Tokio, a third at Nara near Kioto, and so on. Some have of late years been sold for the value of the metal, one has in this way been brought to London, and is now exhibited in the Kensington Museum. The metal of the statues consists of an alloy of copper with tin and a little gold, the last named const.i.tuent giving rise to the report that their value is very considerable. To give an idea of the size of some _Daibutsu_ statues it may be mentioned that the one at Nara is fifty-three and a half feet high, and that one can crawl into the head through the nose orifices.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUDDHIST TEMPLE AT KOBE. ]

Nearly all the _Daibutsu_ images are made after nearly the same design, which has been improved from generation to generation until the countenance of the image has received a stamp of benevolence, calm, and majesty, which has probably never been surpa.s.sed by the productions of western art. _Daibutsu_ images evidently stand in the same relation to the works of private sculptors as folk-poetry to that of individual bards.

As I have before pointed out, the Western taste for the gigantic was not prevalent in Old j.a.pan. It was evidently elegance and neatness, not grandeur, that formed the object towards which the efforts of the artist, the architect, and the gardener were directed. Only the _Daibutsu_ images, some bells, and other instruments of worship form exceptions to this. During our excursion at Kioto we pa.s.sed an inclosure where the walls were built of blocks of stone so colossal, that it was difficult to comprehend how it had been possible to lift and move them with the means that were at the disposal of the j.a.panese in former times. In the neighbourhood of that place there was a grave, probably the only one of its kind. It is described in the following way in an account of the curiosities of Kioto written by a native:--

"Mimisuka, or the grave of the noses and the ears, was erected by Hideyoshi Taiko, who lived about A.D. 1590. When the military chiefs of this famous man attacked Corea with a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, he gave orders that they should bring home and show him all the ears and noses of the enemies who were killed in the contest, for it was an old practice in j.a.pan to cut off the enemies' heads to show them to the king or the commander of the army. But it was now impossible to bring the heads of the dead Corean warriors to j.a.pan, because the distance was too great.

Hideyoshi therefore gave the above order, and the ears and noses, which were brought to j.a.pan, were buried together at that place. The grave is 730 feet in circ.u.mference, and is 30 feet high."

Kioto is one of the princ.i.p.al places for the manufacture of _faence_, porcelain, and _cloisonne_. The productions of the ceramic art are, as is well-known, distinguished by their tasteful forms and beautiful colours, and are highly valued by connoisseurs, on which account they are exported on a large scale to Europe and America. The works are numerous and small, and are owned for the most part by families that for a long succession of generations have devoted themselves to the same occupation. The articles are burned in very small furnaces, and are commonly sold in a shop which is close to the place where they are made. The making of porcelain in j.a.pan, therefore, bears the stamp rather of handicraft than of manufacturing industry. The wares gain thereby in respect of art to an almost incredible degree. They have the same relation to the productions of the great European manufactories that the drawing of an artist has to a showily coloured lithograph. But the price is high in proportion, and the j.a.panese porcelain is too dear for every-day use even in its own country. Nearly all the large sets of table porcelain that I saw in j.a.pan were, therefore, ordered from abroad. The cups which the natives themselves use for rice, tea, and _saki_ are, however, of native manufacture; but even in a well-provided j.a.panese household there is seldom so much porcelain as would be required for a proper coffee-party at home.

In the evening the Governor had invited us to a dinner, which was given in a hall belonging to a literary society in the town. The rooms were partly furnished in European style with tables, chairs, Brussels carpets, &c. The dinner was European in the arrangement of dishes, wines, and speeches. The dishes and wines were abundant and in great variety. The company were very merry, and the host appeared to be greatly pleased, when I mentioned that at one of the places which I had seen that day I saw a wall adorned by a motto of his composition. He immediately promised to write a similar one on me with reference to my visit to the town, and when a few moments after he had the first line ready, he invited his j.a.panese guests to write the second. They tried for a good while with merry jests to hit upon some suitable conclusion, but in vain. Early the following morning Mr. Koba-Yaschi came to me, bringing with him a broad strip of silk on which the following was pencilled in bold, n.o.bly-formed characters:

Umi hara-no-hate-made Akiva-Sumi-watare,

which when translated runs thus:

"As far as the sea extends The autumn moon spreads her beneficent light."

According to the explanation which I received the piece points out that the autumn moon spreads her beneficent rays as far as to that place in the high north where we wintered. After the above-quoted verse came the following addition in j.a.panese: "Written by Machimura Masanavo, Governor of Kioto-Fu, to Professor Nordenskiold, on the occasion of a dinner given to him during the autumn of 1879." The whole besides was signed with the author's common, as well as his poetical, name, and had his seal attached. His poetical name was RIO-SAN, which may be literally translated "Dragon-Mountain."

The poetry of the j.a.panese is so unlike that of the Western nations that we find it difficult to comprehend the productions of the j.a.panese poets. Perhaps they ought more correctly to be called poetical mottoes. They play a great part in the intellectual life of the j.a.panese. Their authors are highly esteemed, and even in the homes of the poorer cla.s.ses the walls are often ornamented with strips of silk or paper on which poems are written in large, bold, pencil characters. Among the books I brought home with me are many which contain collections of the writings of private poets and poetesses, or selections from the most famous of the productions of j.a.panese literature in this department. A roll of drawings which turned up very often represents the sorrowful fate of a famous poetess. First of all she is depicted as a representative j.a.panese beauty, blooming with youth and grace, then she is represented in different stages of decay, then as dead, then as a half-decayed corpse torn asunder by ravens, and finally as a heap of bones. The series ends with a cherry-tree in splendid bloom, into which the heroine, after her body had pa.s.sed through all the stages of annihilation, has been changed. The cherry-tree in blossom is considered by the j.a.panese the ideal of beauty in the vegetable kingdom, and during the flowering season of this tree excursions are often undertaken to famous cherry-groves where hour after hour is pa.s.sed in tranquil admiration of the flower-splendour of the tree.

Unfortunately I was so late in getting the explanation of the beautiful poetical idea that ran through this series of pictures, some of which were executed with execrable truth to nature, that I missed the opportunity of purchasing it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RIO SAN'S SEAL. ]

I was obliged to leave Kioto too early in order to be present at a _fete_, which was given to us at Kobe by the j.a.panese, Europeans, and Chinese who were interested in our voyage. The entertainment was held in a Buddhist temple without the town, and was very pleasant and agreeable. The j.a.panese did not seem at all to consider that their temple was desecrated by such an arrangement. In the course of the afternoon for instance there came several pilgrims to the temple. I observed them carefully, and could not mark in their countenances any trace of displeasure at a number of foreigners feasting in the beautiful temple grove whither they had come on pilgrimage. They appeared rather to consider that they had come to the goal of their wanderings at a fortunate moment, and therefore gladly accepted the refreshments that were offered them.

On the morning of the 18th October the _Vega_ again weighed anchor, to proceed on her voyage. The course was shaped through the Inland Sea of j.a.pan for Nagasaki. When I requested of the Governor of Kobe permission to land at two places on the way, he not only immediately granted my request, but also sent on the _Vega_ the same English-speaking official from his court who had before attended me to Kioto. The weather was clear and fine, so that we had a good opportunity of admiring the magnificent environs of the Inland Sea.

They resemble much the landscape in a northern archipelago. The views here are however more monotonous in consequence of their being less variety in the contours of the mountains. Here as at Kobe the hills consist mainly of a species of granite which is exposed to weathering on so large a scale that the hard rocks are nearly everywhere decomposed into a yellow sand unfavourable for vegetation. The splendid wild granite cliffs of the north accordingly are absent here. All the hill-tops are evenly rounded, and everywhere, except where there has been a sand-slip, covered with a rich vegetation, which in consequence of the evenness of height of the trees gives little variety to the landscape, which otherwise is among the most beautiful on the globe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BURYING PLACE AT KIOTO. ]

We landed at two places, on the first occasion at Hirosami. Here some fishermens' cabins and some peasants' houses formed a little village at the foot of a high, much-weathered granite ridge. The burying-place was situated near one of the houses, close to the sh.o.r.e. On an area of some hundred square yards there were numerous gravestones, some upright, some fallen. Some were ornamented with fresh flowers, at one was a Shinto shrine of wooden pins, at another stood a bowl with rice and a small _saki_ bottle. Our zoologists here made a pretty rich collection of littoral animals, among which may be mentioned a cuttle-fish which had crept down amongst the wet sand, an animal that is industriously searched for and eaten by the natives. Among the cultivated plants we saw here, as many times before in the high-lying parts of the country, an old acquaintance from home, namely buckwheat.

The second time the _Vega_ anch.o.r.ed at a peasant village right opposite Shimonoseki. When we landed there came an official on board, courteously declaring that we had no right to land at that place. But he was immediately satisfied and made no more difficulties when he was informed that we had the permission of the Governor, and that instead of the usual pa.s.sport an official from Kobe accompanied the vessel. Shimonoseki has a melancholy reputation in European-j.a.panese history from the deeds of violence done here by a united English, French, Dutch, and American fleet of seventeen vessels on the 4th and 5th September, 1864, in order to compel the j.a.panese to open the sound to foreigners, and the unreasonably heavy compensation which after the victory was won they demanded from the conquered. Although only fifteen years have pa.s.sed since this occurred, there appears to be no trace of bitter feeling towards Europeans among the inhabitants of the region. At least we were received at the village in the neighbourhood of which we landed with extraordinary kindness. The village was situated at the foot of a rocky ridge, and consisted of a number of houses arranged in a row along a single street, the fronts of the houses being as usual occupied as shops, places for selling _saki_, and workshops for home industry. The only remarkable things besides that the village had to offer consisted of a Shinto temple surrounded by beautiful trees and a considerable salt-work, which consisted of extensive, shallow, well-planned ponds now nearly dry, into which the sea-water is admitted in order to evaporate, and from which the condensed salt liquid is afterwards drawn into salt-pans in order that the evaporation may be completed. It was remarkable to observe that several crustacea throve exceedingly well in the very strong brine.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ENTRANCE TO NAGASAKI. ]

On the surrounding hills we saw thickets of the j.a.panese wax tree, _Rhus succedaneus_. The wax is pressed out of the berries of this bush with the help of heat. It is used on a large scale in making the lights which the natives themselves burn, and is exported bleached and refined to Europe, where it is sometimes used in the manufacture of lights. Now, however, these wax lights are increasingly superseded by American kerosene oil. The price has fallen so much that the preparation of vegetable wax is now said scarcely to yield a profit.[384]

We left this place next morning, and on the 21st October the _Vega_ anch.o.r.ed in the harbour of Nagasaki. My princ.i.p.al intention in visiting this place was to collect fossil plants, which I supposed would be found at the Takasima coal-mine, or in the neighbourhood of the coal-field. In order to find out the locality without delay, I reckoned on the fondness of the j.a.panese for collecting remarkable objects of all kinds from the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. I therefore hoped to find in some of the shops where old bronzes, porcelain, weapons, &c., were offered for sale, fossil plants from the neighbourhood, with the locality given. The first day, therefore, I ran about to all the dealers in curiosities, but without success. At last one of the j.a.panese with whom I conversed told me that an exhibition of the products of nature and art in the region was being arranged, and that among the objects exhibited I might possibly find what I sought for.

Of course I immediately availed myself of the opportunity to see one of the many j.a.panese local exhibitions of which I had heard so much.

It was yet in disorder, but I was, at all events, willingly admitted, and thus had an opportunity of seeing much that was instructive to me, especially a collection of rocks from the neighbourhood. Among these I discovered at last, to my great satisfaction, some beautiful fossil plants from Mogi, a place not far from Nagasaki.

Immediately the following morning I started for Mogi, accompanied by the j.a.panese attendant I had with me from Kobe, and by another adjutant given me by the very obliging governor of Nagasaki. We were to travel across the hills on horseback. I was accompanied, besides my j.a.panese a.s.sistants and a man from the _Vega_, all on horseback, by a number of coolies carrying provisions and other equipment. The Governor had lent me his own horse, which was considered by the j.a.panese something quite grand. It was a yellowish-brown stallion, not particularly large, but very fine, resembling a Norwegian horse, very gentle and sure-footed. The latter quality was also quite necessary, for the journey began with a ride up a hundred smooth and not very convenient stone steps. Farther on, too, the road, which was exceedingly narrow and often paved with smooth stones, went repeatedly up and down such stairs, not very suitable for a man on horseback, and close to the edge of precipices several hundred feet deep, where a single false step would have cost both the horse and its rider their lives. But as has been said, our horses were sure-footed and sure-eyed, and the riders took care in pa.s.sing such places not to pull the reins.

None of the mountain regions I have seen in j.a.pan are so well cultivated as the environs of Nagasaki. Every place that is somewhat level, though only several hundred square yards in extent, is used for growing some of the innumerable cultivated plants of the country, princ.i.p.ally rice but as such easily cultivated places occur in only limited numbers, the inhabitants have by industry and hard labour changed the steep slopes of the mountains into a succession of level terraces rising one above the other, all carefully watered by irrigating conduits.

Mogi is a considerable fishing village lying at the seaside twenty kilometres south of Nagasaki in a right line, on the other side of a peninsula occupied by lava beds and volcanic tuffs, which projects from the island Kiushiu, which at that place is nearly cut asunder by deep fjords. No European lives at the place, and of course there is no European inn there. But we got lodgings in the house of one of the princ.i.p.al or richest men in the village, a maker and seller _of saki_, or as we would call him in Swedish, a brandy distiller and publican. Here we were received in a very friendly manner, in clean and elegant rooms, and were waited on by the young and very pretty daughter of our host at the head of a number of other female attendants. It may be supposed that our place of entertainment had no resemblance to a public-house in Sweden. We did not witness here the tipsy behaviour of some human wrecks, and as little some other incidents which might have reminded us of public-house life in Europe. All went on in the distillery and the public-house as calmly and quietly as the work in the house of a well-to-do country squire in Sweden who does not swear and is not quarrelsome.

_Saki_ is a liquor made by fermenting and distilling rice. It is very variable in taste and strength, sometimes resembling inferior Rhine wine, sometimes more like weak grain brandy. Along with _saki_ our host also manufactured vinegar, which was made from rice and _saki_ residues, which with the addition of some other vegetable substances were allowed to stand and acidify in large jars ranged in rows in the yard.

When my arrival became known I was visited by the princ.i.p.al men of the village. We were soon good friends by the help of a friendly reception, cigars and red wine. Among them the physician of the village was especially of great use to me. As soon as he became aware of the occasion of my visit he stated that such fossils as I was in search of did indeed occur in the region, but that they were only accessible at low water. I immediately visited the place with the physician and my companions from Nagasaki, and soon discovered several strata containing the finest fossil plants one could desire.

During this and the following day I made a rich collection, partly with the a.s.sistance of a numerous crowd of children who zealously helped me in collecting. They were partly boys and partly girls, the latter always having a little one on their backs. These little children were generally quite bare-headed. Notwithstanding this they slept with the crown of the head exposed to the hottest sun-bath on the backs of their bustling sisters, who jumped lightly and securely over stocks and stones, and never appeared to have any idea that the burdens on their backs were at all unpleasant or troublesome.

According to Dr. A.G. NATHORST'S examination, the fossil plants which I brought home from this place belong to the more recent Tertiary formation. Our distinguished and acute vegetable paleontologist fixes attention on the point, that we would have expected to find here a fossil flora allied to the recent South j.a.panese, which is considered to be derived from a Tertiary flora which closely resembles it. There is, however, no such correspondence, for impressions of ferns are almost completely wanting at Mogi, and even of pines there is only a single leaf-bearing variety which closely resembles the Spitzbergen form of _Sequoia Langsdorfii_, Brag. On the other hand, there are met with, in great abundance, the leaves of a species of beech nearly allied to the red beech of America, _f.a.gus ferruginea_, Ait., but not resembling the recent j.a.panese varieties of the same family. There were found, besides, leaves of Quercus, Juglans, Populus, Myrica, Salix, Zelkova, Liquidambar, Acer, Prunus, Tilia, &c., resembling leaves of recent types from the forests of j.a.pan, from the forest flora of America, or from the temperate flora of the Himalayas. But as the place where they were found is situated at the sea-sh.o.r.e, quite close to the southern extremity of j.a.pan, it is singular that the tropical or sub-tropical elements of the flora of j.a.pan are here wanting. From this Dr. Nathorst draws the conclusion that these are not, as has been hitherto supposed, the remains of a flora originating in j.a.pan, but that they have since migrated thither from a former continent situated further to the south, which has since disappeared. Dr. Nathorst's examination is not yet completed, but even if this were the case, want of s.p.a.ce would not permit me to treat of this point at greater length. I cannot, however, omit to mention that it was highly agreeable to be able to connect with the memory of the _Vega_ expedition at least a small contribution from more southerly lands to vegetable palaeontology, a branch of knowledge to which our preceding Arctic expeditions yielded new additions of such importance through the fossil herbaria from luxuriant ancient forests which they brought to light from the ice-covered cliffs of Spitzbergen and from the basalt-covered sandstones and schists of the Noui-soak Peninsula in Greenland, now so bleak.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FOSSIL PLANTS FROM MOGI.

1, 2. Beech Leaves (_f.a.gus ferruginea_ Ait., var. _pliocena_, Nath.).

3. Maple Leaf (_Acer Mono_, Max., var. _pliocena_, Nath.). ]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FOSSIL PLANT FROM MOGI. Leaf of _Zelkova Keakii_ Sieb., var. _pliocena_, Nath. ]

After our return from Mogi I made an excursion to the coal-mine at Takasami, situated on an island some kilometres from the town. Even here I succeeded in bringing together some further contributions to the former flora of the region.