The Life of Isabella Bird in Japan

The Life of Isabella Bird in Japan

Isabella’s Early life

Isabella Bird came from Boroughbridge Hall, Yorkshire. She was born on October 15, 1831[1]. She came from a Christian family. Her father was a clergyman in the Anglican church while her mother came from the family of a clergyman as well. Isabella’s character and religious foundations were as a result of her extensive family. A part of her family members was prominent in the British empire as well as the church of England. Bird was small in physic, and she was described as sickly because she suffered from different diseases in her childhood. An operation was done to remove a tumour in her spine in 1850[2]. She also suffered from depression and insomnia. Due to these ailments, her doctor endorsed that she travels in a bit to fight the illnesses. This led her father, Edward Bird, to give her a 100 pounds to cater to her needs wherever she will go. Bird used this money to visit Eastern Canada and North America. When she returned from her tour, she published her first book ‘The Englishwoman in America’ using the letters she used to write to her sister.

Isabella’s Arrival in Japan for the First Time

Due to the recommendation from her doctor, that she should travel to recruit her health. In April 1878, Isabella Bird left home for her first visit to Japan. Even before her visit, Japan had already been identified by tourists from the ‘West.’ To her, Japan was a perfect destination for foreigners because it was regarded as mysterious and foreign but not dirty, dangerous or wild. Coincidentally as she describes in her book “unbeaten tracks in Japan.” Her visit came at a time when many visitors from the West were visiting japan[3]. This instigated the idea for her to move away from the cities of Japan and to the interior places like Yezo, where other white foreigners were unable to explore. She had the motive to explore the interior Japanese land because she wanted to have more detailed accounts of her experience in Japan, that would later help her write a book. She used connections with people like Sir. Ernest Satow who had contacts in the government to reach the ‘unreachable places’ by other foreigners. According to Barr, she entitled her book “Unbeaten Tracks” because she believed she was setting a route that other foreigners behind her would follow[4].

Western Encryption in Japan

British industrialization had occurred ten years before Birds’ arrival in Japan, and this was immediately after Meiji restoration. Stoddart wrote that at the time Bird arrived, Japan was experiencing rapid changes than any other country [5]. There was the presence of railways, post offices and even factories. Bird attributed this to be the influence of the West. Her view on the westernization of Japan was entirely different from others. She only enjoyed the ‘untouched’ parts of japan by the western countries. This meant that she did not want anything that reminded her of the European culture. It had been more than eight years since the “difficult and brilliant Japanese system of feudalism was swept away”,[6] as she put it. This statement implied that she viewed the old regime of the Japanese as an asset and to some extent, a disgrace that had gone away. She wrote that there was a strong presence of foreigners who even had government positions in the cities. Her movement through Japan allowed her to explore japan from an orientalist opinion on Christianity and race. Then express ideas gathered from her exploration to her native western audience where she got the funds to further her movements.

Christianity in Japan and European superiority

According to the accounts, she narrates in her book “Unbeaten Tracks.” Bird account that although westernization had taken place in the Japanese cities, the Japan people lagged behind, especially in the interior[7]. Her view on Christianity in the Japanese land varied through her visit to different parts. She states that she encountered many churches that included the Methodist and the Presbyterian on her way from Yokohama and Tokyo. This was evidence of the Christian missions from the western countries. But as she continued to explore japans interior, Barr pointed out that she also encountered Buddhism[8]. At first, she had no problem and was eager to learn about it. But after she met a Buddhist man and they seem to have the same understanding that, Buddhism was about materialism and godlessness of Japan, the feeling of enjoying Buddhism left her melancholy.

From that point, she changed her narrative on Buddhism and became started advocating for Christian missions. In her book “unbeaten Trucks” Birds point out that, she doubts the future of Christianity in Japan [9]. She goes ahead to mention that Japan was not ripe for the reception of Christianity. Barr points out that Bird was unsatisfied about Christianity in Japan. She did not take it well the fact that Japanese people had borrowed other western cultures and forgot about the west faith[10]. Bird believed that Christianity was the career of the West of civilization and it was to her surprise that the Japanese were being civilized in other ways and leaving out the core career of western culture which was their faith.

Japan’s Interest to West

In as much as Bird admired and liked the informal settlement in the interior of Japan, and also her first nice impression about Buddhism. She heavily believed that Japanese people heavily borrowed and were dependant on western culture. She attributes this to various facts. For example, she used a train to transport her from Tokyo to Yokohama. White engineers brought this transport system. Another example is the education system that the Japanese were using was the western style of teaching and learning.

Throughout her journey, she pointed out that the Japanese did not have a deeper connection to the western even though they had implemented some of the cultures of the West. For instance, in her book “unbeaten Trucks” she recounts a scenario where people were looking at her in disbelief because they had never seen a white woman[11]. She also points out that she needed a more in-depth account of the interior Japanese land that is why she went more in-depth than other foreigners. In the course of her travel, she learned that modernization that had occurred earlier before her travel was yet to reach the interior. This was attributed to the fact that people in the interior were not able to communicate in English, Christianity was never even heard in those places, and most locals did not know how to dress accordingly in regards to Christian forms of dressing.

Japans Culture

In her encounters, one thing that pleases and amuse Bird is the Japanese way of life. She generally applauded their culture and character. She recounts her encounters as pleasant and courteous in her book “Unbeaten Trucks.” She compares then to the Chinese and praises them. Ballantyne wrote that Bird described Japanese children as obedient, quiet and well behaved, unlike children from the western countries[12]. She also talks about the love and affection that existed among the families in japan was exceptional. She termed it as a vital asset in among the Japanese people. Despite all these praises and applauds, she points out that Japanese people lacked Christian faith which, according to her, it is imperative.

Apart from that, Bird pointed extensively on the appearance of Japanese people. In her book “Unbeaten Tracks”, she wrote that in as much as the people from Japanese interior had a nice character that was gentle and pleasant, she saw nothing surprising about the dressing of the Japanese women to be specific. According to Bird, the Japanese women wore kimonos when doing essential duties and to her these clothes used in riding horses in the western. She emphasized on their dressing because she believed that dressing has a lot to do with a religious connotation. In the olden days, the Greeks believed that external cleanliness was a reflection of inward purity. To Isabella Bird, this was very vital because people from the West thought that for many years. Thus, the way of dressing of Japanese people showed a lack of connection with God.

The second visit to Japan

Due to her old age without being married. Bird returned home in Britain around 1880 where she stayed there a few months before being engaged to a man who she had earlier refused, and later they married in 1881. Unfortunately, only four years after her marriage, the husband passed away. After the death of her husband as Bishop notes Bird rediscovered herself and her Christian life, and she got baptized[13]. She then returned back to Asia officially as a missionary. Because she loved japan, it was her first point of arrival through in her second she stayed there for only a short period of time. In her second visit, Bird states that, for the full civilization of Japan, they needed to abandon what she term was materialism and godless worship. She further states that western civilization comes from Christianity. She concludes her second visit by stating that Japan, in order for Japan to fully modernize they must incorporate Christianity.

Wrap up

Isabella Bird remains to be a vital figure in japan transformation from the old Japanese system of feudist to the modernized japan. In her book “Unbeaten Truck” she accounts of her effort in exploring the interior and bringing to light what really goes on inside there. Despite her disagreement with the Japanese religion of Buddhism, it is evident that Japanese people are deeply rooted in it, and it will take an enormous amount of effort by Christian missionaries to change this narrative. But also, through the wide readership that she wrote as a result of her exploration, her effort still remains vital in the history and transformation of Japan.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barr, Pat. A Curious Life for a Lady: The Story of Isabella Bird. London: Macmillin & Company Limited and John Murray Limited, (1970).

Bird Bishop, Isabella. Unbeaten Tracks in Japan: An Account of Travels on Horseback in the Interior Including Visits to the Aborigines of Yezo and the Shrines of Nikkô and Isé, Vol II. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1881. Accessed March 29, 2020.

https://archive.org/details/unbeatentracksin01birduoft.

Ballantyne, Tony, and Antoinette Burton, eds. Moving Subjects: Gender, Mobility, and Intimacy in an Age of Global Empire. Urbana and Chicago: (University of Illinois Press, 2009).

Middleton, Dorothy. “Bishop [Bird], Isabella Lucy(1831–1904).” Dorothy Middleton In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison.

Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed., edited by David Cannadine, May 2005.

http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.library.carleton.ca/view/article/31904 (accessed March 29, 2020).

Stoddart, Anna M. The Life of Isabella Bird (Mrs. Bishop), Hon. Member of the Oriental Society of Pekin F.R.G.S. , F.R.S.G.S. (London, 1908)