Fun of Good Old Japanese - 江戸・明治に学ぶ　楽しむ生き方

Isabella's departure to northern Japan まずは日光へ Letter 6 Kasukabe, Jun 10   Isabella hired three rickshaws and departed for Nikko on Jun 10   with a young interpreter Mr.Ito . She wrote “The houses were mean, poor , shabby, often even squalid, the smells were bad , and the people looked ugly , shabby, and poor, though all were working at something or other.” She had very bad impression concerning rural area. She stayed in Japan around one month, but she didn’t like it. Eventually, she found the good points of the country. Rickshaws in Asakusa 、浅草の人力車   イザベラは、人力車 3 台を雇い、 6 月 10 日に公使館を出発し、日光に向かう。江戸を出てからも、家々はみすぼらしく、道では悪臭がし、農作業などをしている人々は醜いと述べており、来日ひと月後も、日本に好感は持っていないが、好意的な記録も残している。   She took a rest at a wayside tea house and she praised Japanese green tea . She was born in UK which is very famous for their tea, she stated, “the infusion is a clear straw-coloured liquid with delicious aroma and flavor, grateful and refreshing at all time.” It must not...

Arrival and visiting Asakusa 日本着、そして浅草訪問   Isabella arrived at Yokohama, near Tokyo, in May of 1878.   She travelled northern Japan including Hokkaido and western Japan including Ise mainly by rickshaw , then she left Japan in December. This diary was written as letters to her younger sister.  She described in detail, so we can understand what happened clearly.  She was 46 when she came to Japan, and she hired Japanese lad as an interpreter. I admire her coura ge because she was the first lady foreigner to visit inland.  This book is stored up in many libraries and Manga version was issued.  She observed various things such as behaviors of Japanese people, plants and stratums meticulously and she elaborated on scenic beauty. I leave those matters to other authors, I would like to focus on the fun of old Japanese which she saw in Japan.   The photo of Isabella in 1896 from the exhibition “Voyage of Unbeaten Tracks in Japan” 、1 896 年の...

  This big museum is in Taga city which is located around 350km north of Tokyo. Yamato Dynasty, which was ruled by the ancestor of the Japanese emperor, established the regional HQ here. Therefore, Taga was a central city of Northeast (Tohoku) Japan. Tohoku history is exhibited tidily. I like here because people’s livelihood in every era is exhibited. We can also enter the old and big farmer’s house which was brought from the neighboring area Ishinomaki and reconstructed in the ground of this museum.    The exhibits of accessories and festivals show me the enjoyment of people. Moreover we can see lots of exhibits about travels which was the amusement of ordinary people in the Edo period . 67 pictures are uploaded.  Permanent exhibition room 、常設展示室 大和朝廷が東北を支配するために置いた陸奥の国府・多賀城跡の近くにある大きな博物館。縄文時代からの東北の歴史が整然と 展示されている。どの時代の展示にも人々の暮らしのコーナーを設けていて、民俗学的にも分かりやすい。多賀城があった時代、奥州藤原氏の時代、伊達氏の時代を中心にした展示であった。博物館には、石巻市から移設された見ごたえがある今野家住宅もある。 人の楽しみの面からみると、アクセサリーと祭りの展示が...