travel
Travel Observations by Engelbert Kaempfer
The German physician, Engelbert Kaempfer, was born in 1651 in the Westphalian town of Lemgo. Kaempfer did quite a bit of traveling throughout his life, and in
September of 1690 Kaempfer’s ship arrived at the coast of Nagasaki, the only Japanese port that was open to foreigners at the time. Kaempfer visited Japan during the
Tokugawa period, named for the Tokugawa Shogun who governed from 1603 to 1868.
Kaempfer stayed in Japan for two years, and he wrote about his many experiences and observations. The excerpts you will read below are from an English translation of
Kaempfer’s writings: Engelbert Kaempfer, Kaempfer’s Japan, Tokugawa Culture
Observed, edited, translated, and annotated by Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey (Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press), 1999. (The sections below can be found on pages 271-9.)
Chapter 5
The Crowds of People Traveling This Highway Daily and Gaining their Livelihood Therefrom
An incredible number of people daily use the highways of Japan's provinces, indeed, at certain times of the year they are as crowded as the streets of a populous
European city. I have personally witnessed this on the Tokaido [highway] apparently the most important of the seven highways, having traveled this road four times. The reason for these crowds is partly the large population of the various provinces and partly that the
Japanese travel more often than other people. Here I will introduce the most memorable groups of travelers one meets daily on these roads.
Of greatest importance are the processions of the greater and lesser territorial lords, as well as those of the greater and lesser stewards of shogunal cities and provinces, who annually travel up and down this road, that is to say, twice in one year, since they have to appear at the court at a certain time and then have to depart again. They make this journey accompanied by all of their retinue, with a display of as many people and as
much
The German physician, Engelbert Kaempfer, was born in 1651 in the Westphalian town of Lemgo. Kaempfer did quite a bit of traveling throughout his life, and in
September of 1690 Kaempfer’s ship arrived at the coast of Nagasaki, the only Japanese port that was open to foreigners at the time. Kaempfer visited Japan during the
Tokugawa period, named for the Tokugawa Shogun who governed from 1603 to 1868.
Kaempfer stayed in Japan for two years, and he wrote about his many experiences and observations. The excerpts you will read below are from an English translation of
Kaempfer’s writings: Engelbert Kaempfer, Kaempfer’s Japan, Tokugawa Culture
Observed, edited, translated, and annotated by Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey (Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press), 1999. (The sections below can be found on pages 271-9.)
Chapter 5
The Crowds of People Traveling This Highway Daily and Gaining their Livelihood Therefrom
An incredible number of people daily use the highways of Japan's provinces, indeed, at certain times of the year they are as crowded as the streets of a populous
European city. I have personally witnessed this on the Tokaido [highway] apparently the most important of the seven highways, having traveled this road four times. The reason for these crowds is partly the large population of the various provinces and partly that the
Japanese travel more often than other people. Here I will introduce the most memorable groups of travelers one meets daily on these roads.
Of greatest importance are the processions of the greater and lesser territorial lords, as well as those of the greater and lesser stewards of shogunal cities and provinces, who annually travel up and down this road, that is to say, twice in one year, since they have to appear at the court at a certain time and then have to depart again. They make this journey accompanied by all of their retinue, with a display of as many people and as
much