With Isabella Bird: On the Road to Nikko

"Journeys in Japan"

"I saw far above any possibility of height, as one would have thought,"

"a huge, truncated cone of pure snow, 13,080 feet above the sea,"

"from which it sweeps upwards in a glorious curve, very wan, against a very pale blue sky,"

"with its base and the intervening country veiled in a pale grey mist."

"It was a wonderful vision, and shortly, as a vision, vanished."

The passage I just read is an elegant description of Mount Fuji

written 140 years ago by Englishwoman and traveler, Isabella Bird.

She arrived here and traveled during this very same season

which is wet and muggy and hot.

I intend to use this book as a guide as I travel

along the footsteps of Isabella Bird herself.

Tracing the Japan that Isabella Bird glimpsed 140 years ago.

- This is our gallery.
- So many vintage photos!

Isabella Bird likely stayed here.

On "Journeys in Japan,"

personality Riki Ohkanda follows the author's path from Yokohama to Nikko.

With Isabella Bird
On the Road to Nikko

Our journey gets underway in Yokohama.

This large port city with over ten piers

first opened to foreign ships 160 years ago.

The new international terminal is over here behind me.

But Isabella Bird disembarked over here on this side of Yokohama,

a totally different world 140 years ago.

Isabella would have disembarked around here at the English Hatoba pier,

after being ferried from her steamship by a smaller vessel.

(View of English Hatoba at Yokohama)

It had been just ten years since Japan officially opened to foreign trade,

and Yokohama was a heady jumble of east-meets west.

Isabella's travelogue, "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,"

is a chronicle of those transformational times

written in the form of letters to a younger sister.

Isabella Bird was born in Yorkshire.

Though she suffered from a spinal condition, her doctor recommended voyaging,

which she took up earnestly at the age of 22, visiting the US and Hawaii.

It would be over two decades before her adventures brought her to Japan's shores,

as well as mainland Asia and the Middle East.

Isabella mapped out an impressive route that led her through Nikko, Niigata,

and Akita to Hokkaido, places that required a special travel permit.

A separate journey took her west to the Kansai region.

Her stay in total lasted seven months.

To support her expedition,

she engaged Ito Tsurukichi as her interpreter and attendant.

Long considered a mystery identified only by his surname "Ito,"

recent findings by a Japanese researcher unveiled his identity.

Just 20 at the time, he was a stalwart ally of Isabella's.

When Isabella Bird first disembarked over here in Yokohama 140 years ago,

she came across a site which was very Japanese.

They used to have these lined up for ages.

And see?

- Hello.
- Nice to meet you.

"Jinrikisha" claimed the streets of Yokohama in Bird's time

as inexpensive, comfortable ways to get around town.

Isabella writes that there were 23,000 in Tokyo alone.

Young people threw away their lives as farmers

and flocked to the capital to earn good money pulling them.

But most would burn out after about five years due to physical exhaustion.

140 years ago, jinrikisha crammed the streets.

How is it now?

Now it's just me.

- Just you alone?
- Yes, just me.

17-year veteran and Yokohama native Suzuki Seiji

used to be a businessman working around the country.

It took one chance encounter with a local jinrikisha for him to switch careers.

- Okay, let's go.
- Thank you.

So this is what she would have seen.

"After a visit to the Consulate, I entered a 'kuruma' and, with two ladies in two more,"

"was bowled along at a furious pace by a laughing little mannikin down Main Street—"

Before she started out on her journey,

Isabella Bird wrote that she was fearful and nervous about the road ahead.

But because of pioneers like her, I'm looking forward to it.

From Yokohama, Isabella moved to Shinbashi in Tokyo.

After spending half a month there,

she embarked on her adventure by jinrikisha.

After her departure from Tokyo,

Isabella Bird traveled to Kasukabe where she spent her first night.

It's about 50 minutes from Tokyo by train.

It's what you would call a "bed town"

where people stay here and they commute to work in Tokyo to be close by the city.

This diorama, created by a local history museum,

represents a post town that flourished in Kasukabe during the Edo period.

Hello.

- May I ask a question?
- Of course.

If a town has many lodgings, can you call it a post town?

No. Lodgings alone would not constitute a post town.

Japan has long had main highways.

The Edo government asked certain towns along these roads to open inns for the-high ranking.

Those are the post towns.

The town developed along the Nikko Kaido highway.

It stretched 140 kilometers from Tokyo to Nikko.

Designated as one of the country's main roads about 420 years ago,

its traffic increased when the prominent Nikko Toshogu Shrine was being built.

Do you know where Isabella stayed?

Yes. The Takasagoya, an official honjin inn.

Isabella Bird likely stayed here.

For the most part, Isabella rested at the lodgings of high-ranking persons

called "honjin" or "waki honjin."

She must have felt nervous staying at an all-Japanese inn for the first time.

Yes, it was her first time.

There were few partitions, save sliding paper doors.

"I tried to write to you, but fleas and mosquitoes prevented it."

"The 'fusuma' were frequently noiselessly drawn apart."

"Several pairs of dark, elongated eyes surveyed me through the cracks."

"The lack of privacy was fearful,"

"and I have not yet sufficient trust in my fellow-creatures to be comfortable without locks, walls, or doors!"

(Old Nikko Kaido)

Excuse me. Hello.

I was given an invitation to visit.

May I watch you work?

Sure.

This 100-year-old paulownia "tansu" chest is displayed in the local history museum.

Paulownia retains moisture and repels insects,

making it ideal for storing cherished belongings, especially kimono.

Paulownia tansu-making started in this area over 200 years ago,

likely driven by the gifted artisans

who gathered nearby to construct the elaborate Nikko Toshogu Shrine.

Tansu craftsmen are divided into the "assemblers" and "finishers."

Iwasaki Hiroshi, who has 40 years' expertise, is a finisher.

What kind of work are you doing?

I'm refurbishing an old tansu.

What specifically?

I'm filling in dents and cracks.

- So, you fill them in?
- Yes.

Owners often refurbish their chests.

Thanks to an artisan's deft use of a plane and brush,

the original appearance can be restored

down to the beauty of the grain.

Using a stiff brush made from the roots of the "karukaya" grass plant,

the artisan shaves off the dull parts of the wood to bring out the grain.

To finish it off, the surface gets a coating of a special mixture to further highlight the grain.

This is wonderful.

It must have looked like this when it was brand new.

Yes.

- But you left a patina.
- That's right.

With time the color has darkened, and the user's personality shows through.

You've made a new chest while maintaining its history.

- I guess so.
- You're a true craftsman.

- Wonderful.
- Thank you.

About 20 kilometers north of Kasukabe,

the area around the Tonegawa Bridge on the Saitama and Ibaraki border.

At this place, Isabella Bird crossed the river on the brawny shoulders of a man.

Nikko Kaido passes behind me over here.

However, Isabella decided not to take that route

and instead traveled northwest in that direction to a path less taken.

I wonder if she had some special advice?

She did, in the form of Harry Parkes,

a diplomat at the British legation to Japan.

This is a travel permit for an Italian

that the Japanese government issued around the same time Isabella was in the country.

It shows the reason, route and duration of the journey.

In those days, foreigners were only allowed to visit Tokyo, Osaka,

the area around the five opened ports such as Yokohama,

and places specified in the permit.

But thanks to Harry Parkes' incredible connections,

Isabella obtained a special travel document

that gave her the flexibility of selecting the destinations

and travel routes of her choice.

30 kilometers further north from where Isabella crossed the Tonegawa River.

This is the second place where she would put up her feet.

Viewing the buildings lining the road, Isabella wrote,

"Many of the roofs are tiled, and the town has a solid, handsome appearance..."

Many of these remarkable houses still exist today.

The Tochigi post town prospered with the trading of agricultural produce.

Wealthy merchants rivaled each other

to build the grandest storehouses with thick mortar walls.

Isabella made her way along the Nikko Reiheishi Kaido road,

which was used only by messengers from the Imperial Court in Kyoto

bearing offerings to Nikko Toshogu Shrine.

This is how it would have appeared when Isabella traveled it.

The image was captured by a local Tochigi photographer...

whose legacy has carried on to the fifth-generation Kataoka Yukio.

- This is our gallery.
- So many vintage photos!

Why do you have so many old photos?

In the late Edo period, my ancestor was a samurai.

Samurai? Cool.

This portrait, taken 150 years ago,

shows the studio's founder, Kataoka Josho.

He had been a samurai who guarded an important temple.

At one time, he went out of his way to help a photographer

seeking permission to shoot the Nikko Toshogu Shrine.

In those days, people believed your soul would be stolen if you were photographed.

So it was really hard to take photos.

My ancestor persuaded individuals to sit for photographs.

That's incredible.

I bet he consulted the photographer about how he was about to lose his role as a samurai with the shogunate's end.

The photographer told him to turn to photography and offered all his equipment.

That's how my ancestor got his start.

So that was the beginning.

You're the fifth generation.

Do you have sense of mission for the next generation?

Well...

It's fascinating to see how the city has evolved over 150 years

by shooting from the same angle as my ancestors did.

It's easy for kids to follow and enjoy.

This continuous taking of images will leave a fascinating series for people coming after us.

Wonderful. I'd like to see it one day.

The Nikko Reiheishi Kaido is lined with towering cedar trees for 13 kilometers.

Eventually merging with the Nikko Kaido,

the canopy continues for a stretch of 37 kilometers.

Cedars were first introduced here about 390 years ago.

A samurai family in the service of the shogunate

planted them over a period of 20 years as a donation.

With the road this narrow, the trees seem to rise to aid this.

This is the deep solemnity to which she was referring in her book.

Isabella finally arrived in Nikko.

She stayed here for a while, spending her time visiting temples and shrines

and observing the nature and people's way of life.

This is where Isabella stayed.

This room? It's beautiful.

In this elegant inn, a former samurai residence,

Isabella constantly fretted that she might spill ink or damage the tatami mats.

Kanaya Zenichiro was 21 when he converted this home into lodgings.

For generations, his family had served as court musicians at the Nikko Toshogu Shrine.

Once, the family allowed a foreigner to stay,

and this turned into a tradition of exclusively taking in overseas visitors as guests.

- Please go in.
- May I? I'm honored.

This is impressive.

That is a replica.

The sliding doors feature peonies on a gold background.

Isabella highly praised it.

Amazing. It embodies hundreds of years of history.

This is where Isabella's interpreter, Ito Tsurukichi, stayed.

I remember Isabella writing about its unique layout.

May I look inside?

Please. Watch your step.

What a lovely cool breeze.

This room faces the back garden.

Isabella described that tiny waterfall as a "miniature cascade."

Isabella writes fondly about the lady who attended her here.

She was Kanaya Zenichiro's sister, Sen.

When Isabella visited, Sen was about 30 years old.

Isabella was very fond of Sen. She wrote of her,

"She moves about the house like a floating fairy, and her voice has music in its tones."

One could feel the history of 400 years in the bones of this house.

It's almost as if Lady Sen herself can appear at any moment.

The pilgrimage path to the famed Nikko Toshogu Shrine.

From long ago, large temples and shrines were built in Nikko,

making it a place of both worship and sightseeing.

A lot of families come here and they pose their children

with the famous pose.

Aren't they cute?

The shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu is enshrined as a deity here.

The general ended the period of warring states,

ushering in peace and a new capital, Edo.

The magnificent Yomeimon Gate represents the power he assumed.

Isabella writes about how she would contemplate the gate's splendor

day after day with increasing astonishment.

"In their stately setting of cryptomeria, few of which are less than 20 feet in girth at 3 feet from the ground,"

"they take one prisoner by their beauty, in defiance of all rules of western art,"

"and compel one to acknowledge the beauty of forms and combinations of colour hitherto unknown,"

"and that lacquered wood is capable of lending itself to the expression of a very high idea in art."

This steep ascent leads to Tokugawa Ieyasu's mausoleum.

200 and something steps.

And I just allowed myself to focus on the steps and it became like sort of meditation.

I think that's what the builders had intended.

This is where the shogun rests.

No lavish displays of decoration here.

Instead, serenity prevails.

After reveling in the beauty of Nikko Toshogu,

Isabella presses on to her next adventure.

What we gain from the books of Isabella Bird are old-timey takes,

characteristic of the era in which she was writing,

ardently unfettered and honest with no politics or white lies

clouding the feelings about what she saw.

This is what made her books so popular, all of them,

and it really is wonderful to be able to walk in her footsteps.

Although much of Japan has changed since the time that she's been here,

you can still see remnants of it and still feel the same way

that she had once when looking out on the countryside.

By express train, it takes about two hours and 40 minutes from Yokohama to Nikko.

The places we visited on our journey can be found along the way.

During her stay in Nikko, Isabella delved deeper into the mountains.

Passing Lake Chuzenji, she headed to a popular hot spring town.

Yumoto Onsen began operations 1,200 years ago.

It all started here at Onsen-ji Temple.

This is a rare temple where you can actually soak in a hot spring.