Travel of the northernmost mainland and arrival at Hokkaido Island
青森の旅、そして函館へ
LETTER 29 KUROISHI, August 5
She enjoyed a typical summer festival of
Aomori prefecture. “I went out in my kimono(Japanese clothes) and without my
hat, and in this disguise altogether escaped recognition as a foreigner.” She
adopted herself to Japanese life style and
described the festival, “Surrounding it (a central lantern) were hundreds of
beautiful lanterns and transparencies of all sorts of fanciful shapes - fans,
fishes, ---, the hundreds of people and children who followed all carried
beautiful lanterns, ---". Sixty floats parade today in Kuroishi festival.
Kuroishi
Tourist Association: http://kuroishi.or.jp/event/summer/kuroishineputa
Neputa parade in Asakusa, Tokyo、浅草祭での弘前ねぷた |
黒石では、着物で変装し、今では60台のねぷたが出るねぷた祭りに出かけ、感銘を受ける。洪水で足止めを食ったのでタイミングが合った。外国人とは分からなかったようだ。山車の周りに沢山の提灯があり、扇子や魚などが描かれていて、沢山の人が山車について歩いている、と書いている。華やかな祭りだ。イザベラは、“七夕祭”と聞いているが、ねぷたの起源は七夕祭とも言われている。
黒石観光協会 http://kuroishi.or.jp/event/summer/kuroishineputa
LETTER 30 KUROISHI, August 5.
She decided to stay at the same inn because it
was clean. She peeped into the next house from her room. “I overlook my neighbours
and I have seen a lady at her toilet preparing for a wedding?” I’m not sure
because a wedding ceremony isn’t held during the hot summer usually. Anyway, she
praised make-up tools. “--- a black lacquer toilet-box with a spray of cherry
blossoms in gold sprawling over it, and lacquer up lights at the top, which
supported a polished metal mirror.” She had a telescope.
Makie
lacquer toiletries-box of the wife of a daimyo lord.
大名家の蒔絵の化粧道具箱
|
Mirror
stand @ Former house of Nishikawa family in Oumihachiman
|
Owning good
things is a pleasure. Kuroishi was famous for wooden shoes and combs at that
time. She wrote “Kuroishi, a neat town of 5500 people, famous for the making of
clogs and comb, ---“.
Kuroishi town,
the big house on the opposite side of the road is the Mori family house where
Isabella might have stayed.
黒石町、道を挟んだ大きな家がイザベラが泊まった可能性がある盛家*1
|
イザベラは宿が清潔なので連泊を決めている。隣家を覗いて、化粧中の女性を見て結婚式の準備だろうか、と書くが、夏の結婚式はないだろう。そして、化粧道具と鏡掛け台を褒める。いいものを持っていると嬉しいものだ。当時の黒石は下駄と櫛づくりで有名な木工の町であった。なお、完訳本では、お守り、幽霊、降霊術スピリチュアリズムの話になるが、英文の本書ではその話は記載されていない。
LETTER 31 KUROISHI
She was used to traveling Japan. She hired a
rickshaw and went out without the interpreter. “--- I took a kuruma (rickshaw)
for the day, and had a very pleasant excursion ---" and she mentioned “In
absolute security of Japanese traveling, which I have fully realized for a
long time, ---”
Nakano Shrine where she went alone
通訳の伊藤を置いて一人で行った中野神社
She wrote about the peaceful and uncivilized life of farmers. “--- they (farmer’s houses) had no window, ---. Fowls and horses live on one side of dark interior, and the people on the other. The houses were alive with unclothed children, and I repassed in the evening unclosed men and women, nude to their waists, were sitting outside their dwellings with the small fry, clothed only in amulets, about them, several big yellow dogs forming part of each group, and the faces of dogs, children, and people were all placidly contented!“ They must be poor but they were peaceful, I can say it was happiness.
Farmer’s house in Akita by Isabella、秋田の農家 |
日本に慣れたイザベラは人力車に乗り通訳なしで出かけ、自由な旅を楽しんでいる。日本の旅は安全だ、と記している。
また、イザベラは農民の日々の安穏な暮らしについて書く。農家には窓がなく、家畜や馬と一緒に住んでいる。子ども達は服を着ていないし、男も女も夕方には腰まではだけて外に座り、ハエや数頭の大きな黄色い犬と一緒に過ごしている。犬の顔も、子どもの顔も、人々の顔も全て穏やかで満足している。これこそ幸せではないか。
She continued, “They cannot be so
poor, as far as necessaries of life are concerned; they were only very “far
back.” and “They know nothing better, and are contented; but their houses are
as bad as any that I have seen.”
She visited a hot spring in Nakano;
“In two end houses women and children were bathing in large tanks, and in the
center ones women and men were bathing together, ---” The mixed bathing had
been common in the city like Yokohama in the mid-19th century.
Yokohama Archives of History 横浜開港資料館 |
R. Alcock who was the 1st British Consul-General also wrote,” bathhouses are magnificent recreation centers (for Japanese) --- Japanese bathhouses are an effective combination of physical hygiene, mental health, socializing, and recreation”. (Osakamuseum of Housing and Living)
By the way, the mixed bathing in the city area was prohibited around 1880.
イザベラは、山間部の農民を、彼らは貧しくなく、ただ奥地に居るだけだ、と評する。また、人々は満足しているが、家はひどいという。日本の家は、石造りのイギリスの家に比べるとひどいだろうが、彼らは幸せだったんだ。
そして、中野の温泉を見る。当時は混浴だ。この後が面白い。イギリスのクラブやパブと同じく、日本では公衆浴場で世論が作られるとみている。更に、混浴で女性が居るので危険や暴挙を起こらないという。また、日本政府が混浴を禁止にしていることも記載している。そして、「公衆浴場は、日本の特徴の一つだ」と記載する。
初代の英国領事が「日本の風呂屋は、公衆衛生、メンタルヘルス、近所付き合い、リクレーションの効果的なコンビネーションだ」と書き残している。(大阪くらしの今昔館)大切にすべき文化である。 ちなみに、公衆浴場の混浴は1880年頃に各地の条例で禁止されていった。
初代の英国領事が「日本の風呂屋は、公衆衛生、メンタルヘルス、近所付き合い、リクレーションの効果的なコンビネーションだ」と書き残している。(大阪くらしの今昔館)大切にすべき文化である。 ちなみに、公衆浴場の混浴は1880年頃に各地の条例で禁止されていった。
LETTER 32 HAKODATE, YEZO, August, 1878
Isabella struggled with the bad road
in heavy rain. She saw “hundreds of pack-horses loaded with salt-fish had
turned the tracks into quagmires.” In mountainous regions, salt-fish was vital
protein source and it was a delightful dish for them probably. She finally arrived at Aomori
and went to Hakodate in Hokkaido Island by ship through rough sea of Tsugaru Strait.
The missionary treated her there. She was pleased to stay at the Church Mission House; “You cannot imagine the delight
of being in a room with a door that will lock, to be in a bed instead of on
a stretcher, of finding twenty-three letters containing good news, and of being
able to read in a warmth and quietness under the roof of an English home!” We
Japanese like wooden houses and tatami mat rooms. Every ethnic group has
their own taste. It’s good.
Restored pier in Hakodate、復元された函館の桟橋*1 |
荒波を越えて、函館に渡り、宣教師宅でほっとする。鍵の付いた部屋、ベッドを喜ぶ。イギリス人はイギリスが良いのだ。我々は畳が嬉しい。それぞれであって良い。
LETTER 34 HAKODATE, YEZO
She
enjoyed the Bon festival there.
函館での最後の日、イザベラはお盆の祭りを経験する。
(added photos)
函館での最後の日、イザベラはお盆の祭りを経験する。
(added photos)
Hakodate port at dusk in December, 2019、今の函館港 |
The view from Mt. Hakodate、有名な函館の夜景 |
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Travel of Isabella L. Bird in 1878, part 9 イザベラバードが見た明治初期の日本(9)
Travel of Isabella L. Bird in 1878, part 9 イザベラバードが見た明治初期の日本(9)
There are 12 articles about Isabella's travel in Japan. The first page:
イザベラバードの旅は全12ページの記事です。最初の記事は上記のURLです。
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