Nagasaki

“ We enter the bay now, and approach Nagasaki, between fruitful hills and temple groves, steeps clothed with evergreen oak, cedars, and laurels, picturesque rocks, attacked by man, and wheedled out of practicable ground for corn and cabbages. There is Nagasaki on a hill side, regularly built, every house peeping from its little nest of greens ”

“ Geoffrey and Asako were among the first to land. The moment of arrival on Japanese soil brought a pang of disappointment. The sea-front at Nagasaki seemed very like a street in any starveling European town. It presented a line of offices and consulates built in Western style, without distinction and without charm. Customs' officers and policemen squinted suspiciously at the strangers. A few women, in charge of children or market-baskets, stared blankly. ”

“ Beneath us lies always the immense blue background: Nagasaki illumined by moonlight, and the expanse of silvered, glittering water, which seems like a vaporous vision suspended in mid- air. Behind us is the great open temple, where the bonzes officiate, to the accompaniment of sacred bells and wooden clappers-looking, from where we sit, more like puppets than anything else, some squatting in rows like peaceful mummies, others executing rhythmical marches before the golden background where stand the gods. ”

“ You cannot imagine the size of Nagasaki till you drive through it in a swift-running riksha, nor the quaintness, nor the terror that causes your heart to fly upwards as your riksha man shaves a baby, not with a razor, but with the off wheel.
Boy babies fighting tops, girls bouncing colored balls, flights of children whose clogs clatter like the dominoes in an Italian restaurant as they pursue each other in some mysterious game—everywhere children, a shifting, colored maze in which the eye gets tangled and lost. ”

“ In the fashionable tea-houses where we finish up our evenings, the little servant-girls now bow to us, on our arrival, with an air of respectful recognition, as belonging to the fast set of Nagasaki. There we carry on desultory conversations, full of misunderstandings and endless quid pro quo's of uncouth words,—in little gardens lighted up with lanterns, near ponds full of gold fish, with little bridges, little islets and little ruined towers. ”

“ To-night the way seems long, difficult and slippery; a succession of interminable flights of steps, gardens and houses piled up one above another; waste lands, and trees which in the darkness shake their dripping foliage on our heads.
One would say that Nagasaki is ascending at the same time as ourselves; but yonder, and very far away, in a kind of vapory mist which seems luminous on the blackness of the sky; and from the town there rises a confused murmur of voices and rumbling of gongs and laughter. ”

“ On the second and third nights all the graves without exception are so illuminated, and the families of Nagasaki install themselves in the cemeteries, where they give themselves up, in honour of their ancestors, to plentiful libations. The bursts of uproarious gaiety resound from terrace to terrace, and rockets fired at intervals seem to blend with the giddy human noises the echoes of the celestial vault. The European residents repair to the ships in the bay to see from the distance the fairy spectacle of the hills, all resplendent with rose-coloured lights. ”

“ When at last we reach the bottom, suddenly, without transition, we find ourselves in the very heart of Nagasaki and its busy throng in a long illuminated street, where vociferating djins hurry along and thousands of paper lanterns swing and gleam in the wind. It is life and animation, after the peace of our silent suburb. ”

“ Pursuing the path that winds past our, dwelling, one passes a dozen or more old villas, a few garden-walls, and then sees nothing but the lonely mountain-side, with little paths winding upward toward the summit through plantations of tea, bushes of camellias, underbrush, and rocks. The mountains round Nagasaki are covered with cemeteries; for centuries and centuries they have brought their dead up here.
But there is neither sadness nor horror in these Japanese sepulchres; it seems as if, among this frivolous and childish people, death itself could not be taken seriously. ”

“ August 10th.—Towards five o’clock in the morning our vessel glided into the verdure-framed harbour of Nagasaki, a dream of loveliness. High on the three sides rose steep green hills, clothed with forests of palm-trees. On our left the port stretched out, covered with a multitude of junks. ”

“ I found the Japanese as different in Nagasaki as is their speech. There they say "Nagasaki" with a hard g. In Tokio, where the classics are supreme, they pronounce it "Nangasaki," almost—just as the rickshaw men in the one place lose something of the samurai haughtiness that characterizes them in the other. It is the difference between the flat and the broad "a" in our own land, and between [pg 83] the people who use the one and the people who use the other. Everybody left next morning, but I clung to Nagasaki as long as I could, and in consequence took an all-night ride on a wooden seat. ”

“ While the rest of Japan was closed to foreigners, Nagasaki, for 200 years before the country was thrown open to the world, was an open port, and even then life was none too safe, as missionaries had been killed in that section. Nagasaki has a population of 150,000, and most of the people are engaged at coaling ships, working in a shipyard, or in pottery works. The streets are narrow, but tidier than those seen in some cities left behind, and the homes small, none higher than two stories, mostly of wood construction. Ricksha pullers in this place were a pest. ”

“ Only in the evenings, winding our way through the steep, narrow streets and carrying our lanterns at the end of short sticks, we go down to Nagasaki in search of amusement at the theatres, at the tea- houses, or in the bazaars. ”

“ The brisk atmosphere of business that pervades them does not reach the town on the eastern side, which lies under the shadow of forests of tombstones that cover the over-looking hills. Nagasaki is noted as a coaling station. ”

“ Nagasaki.—August 3rd.—We have had beautiful weather, and have reached this point,—a quiet, small-looking town, fringing the bottom of a bay, which is itself the close of a channel passing between ranges of high volcanic hills, rugged and bold, but luxuriant with vegetation and trees, and cultivated in terraces up to their summits. I have seen nothing so beautiful in point of scenery for many a long day. ”

“ The harbour of Nagasaki is very beautiful. It is "long and narrow, winding in among the mountains like a Scotch firth." Every separate mountain is terraced in green circles down to the water's edge, and in each little conical hill the circles get narrower at the top. In some, there are wooded knolls crowned by a chapel, with winding stone steps, that lead up from the black torii on the banks, where prayers are offered for sailors and the safe return of the fishing junks. ”

“ The chief use of Deshima, as our friends found it, is to serve as a depository of Japanese wares, and particularly of the kinds for which Nagasaki is famous. Nagasaki vases and Nagasaki lacquer were in such quantities as to be absolutely bewildering, and for once they found the prices lower than at Yokohama. They made a few purchases—their final transactions in Japan—and then turned their attention to a stroll through the city. ”

“ The harbour and docks are extensively used by men-of-war.
As yet, judged by European standards, no really excellent work has been turned out at Nagasaki. The main trouble has been with riveting; but this is being steadily overcome, and it is purely a question of time before ocean greyhounds will be turned out at this yard.
The work is not entirely Japanese; “stand-by” Westerners still exist. ”

“ But life is cheap; the population of Japan is probably near thirty million,—and who should care for a few dozen mariners?
If you please, we will now walk up into Nagasaki, with our phantom cloaks about us. Being in a region visited by earthquakes, of course we find the houses of one story lightly built; they are built here of wood and clay with chopped straw,—coated over, like our town suburban villas, with cement. Paper, instead of glass, for window panes, Venetian blinds, and around each house a verandah, we observe at once. But our attention is attracted from the houses to the people. ”

“ At times we passed by a lady, struggling with her skirts, unsteadily tripping along in her high wooden shoes, looking exactly like the figures painted on screens, tucked up under a gaudily daubed paper umbrella. Or else we passed a pagoda, where an old granite monster, squatting in the water, seemed to make a hideous, ferocious grimace at me.
How immense this Nagasaki is! Here had we been running hard for the last hour, and still it seemed never-ending. It is a flat plain, and one could never suppose from the offing that so vast a plain could lie in the recesses of this valley. ”

“ But it remained an insignificant village until the 16th century, when, becoming the headquarters of Japanese Christianity, and subsequently the sole emporium of foreign trade in the hands of the Dutch and the Chinese, it developed considerable prosperity. The opening of the port of Moji for export trade deprived Nagasaki of its monopoly as a coaling station, and the visits of war vessels were reduced when Russia acquired Port Arthur, Great Britain Wei-hai-Wei and Germany Kiaochow. ”

“ The first night is not of so great importance as the other two, for then they only light the graves of those who have died during the past year. Nagasaki is right down among hills, and the grave-yards are on their sides. ”

“ Hardly was the anchor down when our trio entered a boat and were rowed to the shore. Nagasaki is prettily situated in a bay that is completely landlocked, and affords secure anchorage to ships even in the severest gales. Doctor Bronson had been in the harbor of Rio Janeiro, in South America, and said that the bay of Nagasaki was a sort of pocket edition of that of Rio Janeiro. The hills rise abruptly from the water, and lie in terraces that seem to lose themselves in the distance. Some of the hills are wooded, while others are cleared and cultivated ”

“ The harbor of Nagasaki is usually crowded with shipping, and steamers are continually arriving or departing, consequently they attract but little attention, for they are generally capably managed. Of course a yacht swinging at anchor with no steam up is absolutely helpless if some vessel under way bears down upon her. We were lying broadside on to Nagasaki. I was so absorbed in my conversation with Hilda that I did not notice our danger until the captain put a megaphone to his lips and vehemently hailed an oncoming steamer. ”

“ Even a more serious blow than the execution of the first martyrs, which seems rather to have warmed than to have cooled the zeal of the converted Japanese, was an order from the emperor to the governor of Nagasaki to collect all the missionaries, and to ship them off to China, except only his interpreter, Rodriguez, and two or three other Jesuits, who might be permitted to remain at Nagasaki for the benefit of the Portuguese traders. ”

“ Tokio, or the old city of Yeddo, is situated near the head of Yeddo Bay, but a few miles from Yokohama, and but little farther from Uraga where the first reception to Commodore Perry was given. Among the other more important cities on the sea coast are Nagasaki, Yokohama, Hakodate, Hiogo, Ozaka, Hiroshima, and Kanagawa.
Nagasaki is situated on the southwest coast of the island of Kiushiu, and is built in the form of an amphitheater. The European quarter in the east, stands upon land reclaimed from the sea at considerable labor and expense. ”

“ Six of the poorer inhabitants of Nagasaki, furnished by turns from all the streets, and relieved once a month, have their appropriate stations within the island, whence they go over to one another all night, and indicate, according to the custom of the country, both their vigilance and the hours, by beating two wooden cylinders, one against the other. They are also to watch thieves, accidents of fire, and the like.
“During the sale, another guard, on purpose to watch accidents of fire, is kept by our Otona, his clerks, our landlords, the officers of our exchequer, and the cooks. ”

“ We are going full speed, making about 16 knots an hour. At eight o’clock in the morning we perceived a vague shadow without outlines—it is land! We soon enter the port of Nagasaki and pass before an American cruiser in gala attire on the occasion of Christmas. Pine branches, holly and mistletoe hung in festoons about the masts. We stopped alongside a Russian man-of-war, which welcomed us by the sound of a march. A steam-launch belonging to the Russian marine squadron, stationed for the moment at Nagasaki under the command of Admiral Doubassoff, was sent to bring us on shore. ”

“ The harbor and neighboring coast yield plenty of fish and crabs. The rivers that run through the town provide it with clear and sweet water, “very fit,” says Kämpfer, “for daily drink; the sake, or rice beer, as it is brewed in Japan, being too strong, and that in particular made at Nagasaki of a disagreeable taste [149] .”
[Pg 344]
Except articles made of gold, silver and Sawaas (?) ,—a mixture of gold, silver, and copper,—for the foreign trade, manufactures at Nagasaki are not so good as in other parts of the empire; and yet everything is sold dearer, chiefly to foreigners. ”

“ The music he had loved grew wearisome, the never ending dance became hateful to his eyes.
He wanted to return to Nagasaki, but there was no way. The boat that had carried him to the islands had long since fallen into decay, and it was impossible to get another. He must stay forever and ever in the land of dance and song, and the thought became hideous.
Then he heard a weird cry. Looking behind him, he saw a giant stork settling on the bank of a lake to catch some of the rainbow fish within.
A happy thought came to him. No, he would not dwell eternally in Horaisan. He would go back to Nagasaki. ”