Kaempfer's Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed

Chapter 1. Preparations for Our Journey to Court and a Description of the Local Way of Traveling

Chapter 1 Preparations for Our Journey to Court and a Description of the Local Way of Traveling The Origin of the Annual Journey to Court 239 Since the time of the shogun Yoritomo, the founder of the present form of government,1 it has been the custom that not only the stewards of the shogunal domains and cities but all daimyo and shomyō, that is, all greater and lesser territorial lords, appear annually at the shogun’s court. They pay homage by offering their respects and presenting gifts; while the greatest of them—one could call them princes or petty kings—call on the shogun personally, the lesser are received by an assembly of councilors. This custom is also enforced upon the servants of our illustrious Dutch company (just as it was upon the Portuguese in their time). Consequently our resident director in charge of trade annually makes his journey to court, accompanied by a physician and one or two scribes as well as a crowd of Japanese of various ranks. These Japanese are sent by their actual superiors , the Nagasaki governors, not just to escort and wait upon the Dutch as guests of the ruler but mainly to serve as supervisors and guards (as if the Dutch were spies or prisoners ). For in accordance with Japanese law, the Dutch must be prevented during the journey from entering into suspicious conversations or contact with the Japanese, or from passing the Japanese crosses, images, relics of saints, or anything else connected with Christianity, from selling or giving strange goods and rarities from Christian countries, and, worst of all, from escaping and going into hiding in Japan to continue the teaching of the Christian faith or cause some other trouble. The task is generally entrusted to servants of the Nagasaki governors and also to those who are engaged in or supervise the negotiations of the Dutch, or people who are otherwise known and trusted for their fidelity and honesty. But in spite of their reliability, everyone from the most senior chief down to the lowest servant (with the exception of the grooms, because they change) has to swear on his blood before departure that he will report any of the above violations of these laws that may come to his eyes or ears, either by the Dutch or by his own countrymen and traveling companions. I have twice joined this journey to court and made it with pleasure: once in the year of Christ 1691 with Mr. Henrich von Bütenheim,2 a gentleman well acquainted with Japanese customs and the Japanese language, an honest, compassionate , and generous person, who knew how to command respect for his person and especially his nation by his fine leadership. The following year I went with Mr. Cornelius Outhorn,3 the brother of the present governor general at Batavia, an experienced and Book 5 240 well-read gentleman familiar with the language, who with his inborn good-natured temperament well knew how to please this unreasonable nation and therefore directed the affairs of his employers to their great gain. In this book I want to introduce the events and memorable occurrences of each day on both these journeys in their proper order. However , before I begin, I will briefly discuss some major points that are essential to understand this account. Preparations for the Journey to Court and (1) the Selection of the Presents Preparations for the journey are as follows. First, presents amounting to a certain sum of money are selected for the shogun, his councilors, and some of his high officials at Edo, Miyako, and Osaka. Then they are sorted, assigned, and packed in leather containers, which are, however, again carefully wrapped in straw mats to protect them against all possible accidents on the journey, and finally they are sealed. The presents are chosen by the city governors, who order from our director goods that they believe will please the court one year ahead or select items from the goods that we have available here. Sometimes they also use presents they have received from the Chinese for this purpose, which they thus manage to sell to us most dearly at prices set by themselves or exchange against other goods of ours. Thus rare goods for the shogunal court are often also especially sent from Europe, but sometimes they are not accepted by these judges. For instance, this happened during my time with two brass fire extinguishers of the latest design, which were returned after they...