Transcribed from the 1911 John Murray edition ,. Second proofing by KateRuffell.
UNBEATEN TRACKS
IN JAPAN
AN ACCOUNTOF TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR
INCLUDING VISITS TO THE ABORIGINES OF YEZOAND
THE SHRINE OF NIKKÔ
BY ISABELLA L. BIRD
AUTHOR OF ‘SIX MONTHS IN THESANDWICH ISLANDS’
‘A LADY’S LIFE IN THE ROCKYMOUNTAINS’
ETC. ETC.
WITHILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1911
January 1905 | |
Reprinted, | June 1907 |
Second Edition (1/-) | October 1911 |
p. viiTo the Memory
OF
LADY PARKES,
WHOSE KINDNESS AND FRIENDSHIP
ARE AMONG
MY MOST TREASURED REMEMBRANCES OFJAPAN,
THIS VOLUME IS
GRATEFULLY AND REVERENTLY
DEDICATED.
p.ixPREFACE
Having been recommended to leavehome, in April 1878, in order to recruit my health by means whichhad proved serviceable before, I decided to visit Japan,attracted less by the reputed excellence of its climate than bythe certainty that it possessed, in an especial degree, thosesources of novel and sustained interest which conduce soessentially to the enjoyment and restoration of a solitaryhealth-seeker. The climate disappointed me, but, though Ifound the country a study rather than a rapture, its interestexceeded my largest expectations.
This is not a “Book on Japan,” but a narrative oftravels in Japan, and an attempt to contribute something to thesum of knowledge of the present condition of the country, and itwas not till I had travelled for some months in the interior ofthe main island and in Yezo that I decided that my materials werenovel enough to render the contribution worth making. FromNikkô northwards my route was altogether off the beatentrack, and had never been traversed in its entirety by anyEuropean. I lived among the Japanese, and saw their mode ofliving, in regions unaffected by European contact. As alady travelling alone, and the first European lady who had beenseen in several districts through which my route lay, myexperiences differed