Unbeaten Tracks in Japan - SFBA Book Club

No cover — Isabella L. Bird: Unbeaten Tracks in Japan (EBook, 2004, NuVision Publications)

eBook

English language

Published May 10, 2004 by NuVision Publications.

ISBN:: 978-1-59547-357-8
OCLC Number:: 62367869

(1 review)

This is not a "Book on Japan," but a narrative of travels to Japan.This is an attempt to contribute something to the sum of knowledge of the present condition of the country in 1878, and it was not till I had travelled for some months in the interior of the main island and in Yezo that I decided that my materials were novel enough to render the contribution worth making. From Nikko northwards my route was altogether off the beaten track, and had never been traversed in its entirety by any European. I lived among the Japanese, and saw their mode of living, in regions unaffected by European contact. As a lady travelling alone, and the first European lady who had been seen in several districts through which my route lay, my experiences differed more or less widely from those of preceding travellers; and I am able to offer a …

This is not a "Book on Japan," but a narrative of travels to Japan.This is an attempt to contribute something to the sum of knowledge of the present condition of the country in 1878, and it was not till I had travelled for some months in the interior of the main island and in Yezo that I decided that my materials were novel enough to render the contribution worth making. From Nikko northwards my route was altogether off the beaten track, and had never been traversed in its entirety by any European. I lived among the Japanese, and saw their mode of living, in regions unaffected by European contact. As a lady travelling alone, and the first European lady who had been seen in several districts through which my route lay, my experiences differed more or less widely from those of preceding travellers; and I am able to offer a fuller account of the aborigines of Yezo, obtained by actual acquaintance with them, than has hitherto been given. These are my chief reasons for offering this volume to the public. Please Note: This book has been reformatted to be easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.

20 editions

Pam Phillips reviewed Unbeaten Tracks in Japan by Isabella L. Bird

19th century Japan leavened with acerbic comments

4 stars

As this was originally written, as a series of letters to Isabella Bird's sisters, her observations are delivered in a generally casual, chatty manners. Some of her comments on the minor discomforts of travel are pretty funny. Major difficulties and injuries are shrugged off matter of factly, even as she describes the beautiful landscapes she passes through. We heard about her on the NHK series, Journeys in Japan. What they didn't tell you is that Ms. Bird was very taken with the Ainu people she visited and engaged in some amateur anthropology with. Finally, the cover image shown here is a tad misleading about the horses and ponies she encountered, few of which were the least bit tractable. The treatment of horses she witnessed is appalling, and the horses fought back when they thought they could get away with it.