Unbeaten Tracks in Japan

by Isabella Lucy Bird

The daughter of a country parson, Isabella Bird was advised to travel for her health. Bird's compliance with her doctor's orders took her to the wildest regions of the American West, Malaysia, Kurdistan, Persia, the Moroccan desert, and China, among other places. One of nine popular accounts of her adventures around the world, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan traces the intrepid Victorian explorer's 1878 excursion into the back country of the Far East.
Japan had just opened its doors to the West within the past decade, and Bird traversed regions unknown to many of the island nation's inhabitants. Traveling more than 1,400 miles by pack horse, rickshaw, and foot, she followed winding mountain trails and crossed countless rivers to meet villagers in their remote communities and peasant farmers in their fields. In poignant, vivid letters to her sister and friends, Bird describes the vicissitudes of her journey--the discomforts and difficulties as well as the pleasures and excitement of discovery. 40 of the author's own sketches and photographs illustrate her captivating stories.

Genres: Japan, Travel, Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Asia, Biography Memoir

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1885

About the author

Isabella Lucy Bird Bishop (October 15, 1831 – October 7, 1904) was a nineteenth-century English traveller, writer, and a natural historian.

Works:
* The Englishwoman in America (1856)
* Pen and Pencil Sketches Among The Outer Hebrides (published in The Leisure Hour) (1866)
* The Hawaiian Archipelago (1875)
* The Two Atlantics (published in The Leisure Hour) (1876)
* Australia Felix: Impressions of Victoria and Melbourne (published in The Leisure Hour) (1877)
* A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains (1879)
* Unbeaten Tracks in Japan (1880)
* Sketches In The Malay Peninsula (published in The Leisure Hour) (1883)
* The Golden Chersonese and the way Thither (1883)
* A Pilgrimage To Sinai (published in The Leisure Hour) (1886)
* Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan (1891)
* Among the Tibetans (1894)
* Korea and her Neighbours (1898)
* The Yangtze Valley and Beyond (1899)
* Chinese Pictures (1900)
* Notes on Morocco (published in the Monthly Review) (1901)

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free download at Librivox here: https://librivox.org/unbeaten-tracks-...

In 1878 the English-born Isabella Lucy Bird (831 – 1904) traveled to Japan. Suffering from spinal pain and “nerves,” she was advised by her doctor to get fresh air. Consistently this was her doctor’s remedy. She had previously taken sea voyages and traveled in the American Rocky Mountains by stagecoach and horseback. Over the span of her life, she came to travel in China, Tibet, Korea, islands of the Pacific, Australia and of course Japan. She was the first woman elected as Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society.

Isabella arrives in April and departs in December. Arriving at Yokohama by boat, she travels by train to Edo (Tokyo) and then on to Nikko. Thereafter the journey up to Yezo (Hokkaido) is on the “unbeaten track,” which the title refers too. Her goal was to learn more about the aborigines, the Ainu people living up on the northern island of Hokkaido She travels alone. She employs an eighteen-year-old interpreter, a young but industrious Japanese lad. She chose him on a hunch; her intuition guided her. She did not come to regret her choice.

The book consists of letters written by Isabella to her sister Henrietta and a circle of other acquaintances. Henrietta died in 1880 from typhoid fever. Isabella went on to marry Henrietta’s doctor!

While A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains reads as beautiful nature writing, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan does not. The trip in Japan was arduous, extremely difficult. She had been warned that the food would be a problem, that fleas would be a torment and that the route she had chosen was impassible. These warnings she disregarded, and it poured incessantly. On the return trip, a typhoon lasting twenty-five hours had to be coped with. She was thrown from her horse innumerable times. Scarcely can this be called a pleasant trip, and her mood affects the writing. Isabella doesn’t complain, but neither is there enthusiasm or delight to be drawn from what she saw.

Isabella must rely upon a translator; she does not come to know the Japanese nor the Ainu people well. She never stays in one place very long. She observes and meticulously notes all that she sees. Clinically observing a place and the people living there is far different from getting to know them on a personal level. The ways, traditions and manners are noted with precision, but an in-depth understanding of the people and their cultures is not achieved.

There is a large quantity of technical information provided—foods eaten, the construction and appearance of houses, boats and even information detailing how sails are sewn. Clothes for children and adults are described, but in many instances, clothes are not worn. Kimonos are cumbersome. Often men and women wear only pants….if that! Nakedness is not frowned upon. Washing and cleanliness are not the norm. The life of the Japanese and Ainu people is sordid, squalid, filthier than one might imagine. We read of a funeral and a wedding and the new trend favoring the cremations of bodies on death. Within the pages of this book there is a treasure trove of information about the people living in the backwaters of northern Japan.

The book is interesting, but some of the details will be seen as excessive to an ordinary reader. The number of houses in each village passed did not interest me. To a modern day reader, the wording is at times off-putting. I cringed when Isabella referred to the Ainu people as savages. The dimensions of their body parts are measured! Such views are dated and border on being racist.

I wish there had been an accompanying map over the journey, but the larger cities, mountains and bays are not difficult to find on any ordinary map. It is not hard to understand approximately where Isabella raveled.

Availle narrates at Librivox. Her pronunciation of ordinary words is strange. For example, sewing sounds like suing. Often, she emphasizes the wrong syllable. With a little imagination though, it is not hard to guess what is meant. The narration is not hard to follow, so I have rated it with three stars.

Do I regret reading this book? No, but it failed in comparison to what I have read by the author before. My husband and I have traveled a similar route in Japan. This might have made the book a bit more interesting to me than to those having never visited northern Japan.



***********************

*A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains 4 stars
*Unbeaten Tracks in Japan 3 stars
*The Englishwoman in America TBR

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the content was interesting, I found the narrator so annoying that it really took away from the experience from me. Isabella Bird was one of those "invalids" who enjoy poor health--they can't be expected to lead a normal productive life at home because they are "delicate"--and yet she could travel all over the world in very primitive conditions.The Sandwich Islands (Hawaii to you and me) Persia and Kurdistan, Morroco, Korea, China, etc. It wasn't confined to the 19th century, either; I know a few people like that today, who suffer from mysterious illnesses (cause and cure unknown) that keep them from holding a job or doing housework or being responsible for their kids...but their disabilities don't seem to stop them going camping in the rough, or travelling, or spending the day shopping all over town--or basically doing whatever they really want to do!
Everything is seen through the filter of her innate attitudes of superiority...to a country to which she went voluntarily, with no one's coercion! No one asks her to go anywhere, but whenever she shows up in a town she expects there to be accomodation, comfort and food to her taste. She fixates on the dirty children, the "straw coloured, bitter" tea (no milk and sugar!) and the food--so different to her English tastes. It never occurs to her that no one asked her to go there. She also seems to forget that those living in poverty in English cities were living in worse squalor than the Japanese version. (After all, the Japanese already had the bathhouse culture firmly in place a few centuries before Miss Bird set foot there.)
To enjoy this book you have to be able to sift the wheat from the chaff...I was fascinated by the idea of straw slippers for horses instead of horseshoes, and paper for rain wear! I must see if I can find a less biased author, to discover more about life in Japan in those years.

I realise that yes, she was a product of her time and place in imperialist England. Yes, I got this book for free from Gutenberg, and no one forced me to read it, either. Which is why I didn't finish it; it was starting to take forever. I don't think I'll bother with any of her other adventures.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite travel books by this intrepid Englishwoman, traveling through the "backwoods" of Japan in 1878. Though she was an invalid when at home, she rode horseback through wild country, was out in the elements during downpours that led to landslides and washed-out roads, slept on the floor, clawed her way up mountains, and generally put any one of us to shame with her ambition and her tenacity. She was not politically correct, yet she had a deep concern for the people among whom she traveled and with whom she lodged.

One night, in a rural village, she gave some cough medicine to a little boy, which seemed to cure him. "By five o'clock [a.m.] nearly the whole population was assembled outside my room, with much whispering and shuffling of shoeless feet, and applications of eyes to the many holes in the paper windows. When I drew aside the shoji I was disconcerted by the painful sight which presented itself, for the people were pressing one upon another, fathers and mothers holding naked children covered with skin-disease, or with scald-head, or ringworm, daughters leading mothers nearly blind, men exhibiting painful sores, children blinking with eyes infested by flies and nearly closed with ophthalmia; and all, sick and well, in truly 'vile raiment,' lamentably dirty and swarming with vermin, the sick asking for medicine, and the well either bringing the sick or gratifying an apathetic curiosity. Sadly I told them that I did not understand their manifold 'diseases and torments,' and that, if I did, I had no stock of medicines." What an amazing, heart-breaking sight.

In this book, she also describes her sojourn among the Ainu (she calls them Aino), the aborigines of Japan. She took extensive notes on their language, religion, family life, and social organization. Fascinating.

[Elisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I take a deep breath before reviewing this book to remind myself that the author is a British woman from the 19th century and it took a lot of guts for her to travel all alone.

That being said...Isabella L. Bird is a boring, self-righteous, narrow-minded bigot who decided to publish the letters she sent to her sister while she visited Japan. Why anyone bothered to give her the right, I can only guess is due to the fact that she is supposed to be the first woman to have travelled there.

Not only did I not learn one useful thing about Japan by reading this book, I was also disgusted by how Bird dismissed every Japanese custom as "abominable" and qualified any sign of beauty in the locals as decidedly European (never ever Asiatic).

Again, maybe it was natural to be so politically incorrect in the 19th century, but that doesn't justify this woman when she treats certain locals as sub-humans. She literally refers to some as "it" and is an enthusiastic user of the word "savage". Not only that, but she had the gall to criticize belief systems which she found ridiculous and never stopped to think how much so is the Western faith in a man who was born of a virgin and then floated up to the skies to watch over us.

But, above all, this book is just plain boring. She goes on and on about the hardships of her travels (when she was the one who decided to go off on the "unbeaten tracks"), describing nature in the most trivial way, stopping to explain every last single piece of construction in a house, a hole in the road, the size and breadth of a horse, you name it.

The only passably good thing about reading this book had to do with the immense curiosity that the sight of a foreign woman attracted in almost all of the villages she went through. But it's not worth having to muddle through the whole thing.

You might be saving money if you have a Kindle and get this one for free but I can assure you: you will be wasting your time.

[Ameya Warde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all of Bird's books, this was a really fantastic glimpse into a country at a certain time from the perspective of a 19th century person, a woman, and a Brit at the height of empire. I very much enjoyed seeing what life was life for average folks across Japan back then, I love her for traveling the world by herself in an era where that was quite scandalous and not done.

HOWEVER, more so than any of her other books, this book is extremely heavy with what we would now consider absolutely racist language (and thought!) I'm used to reading travelogues from this time so I often think about this topic. Some words did not then carry the weight or insult that developed over time from malicious use, or just use by malicious people, and of course there was still so very much unknown about biology, anthropology and so forth back then. So I do always try to recover after i've recoiled in horror and evaluate if these writers were using the word with all the same connotations they have now, if it was true and innocent ignorance of the time (especially about comments on biological differences which, while totally wrong, also weren't actually attached to any sort of judgement or value statement) and not out of willful ignorance, etc. Usually Bird passes muster on this the vast majority of the time, but in many parts of this book, she didn't.

Yes, what she said at the time was absolutely standard thought for the time, she was not trying to be malicious, there was absolutely no concept of being "PC" in thought, so long as you are polite in action, and *for* the time she does appear to be very progressive in these matters. But still, many things I still will not condone, even though she is just parroting that which is instilled into the "children of empire" back then. I do accept that she was taught to think in this way, but I do not accept that despite her capabilities, she still could not break free of such things. A perfect example on how even though she very much liked and respected the "Ainos" (Ainu people, indigenous to Northern Japan) and complimented them in many ways, she still could say such:

"The profusion of black hair, and a curious intensity about their eyes, coupled with the hairy limbs and singularly vigorous physique, give them a formidably savage appearance; but the smile, full of "sweetness and light," in which both eyes and mouth bear part, and the low, musical voice, softer and sweeter than anything I have previously heard, make me at times forget that they are savages at all. The venerable look of these old men harmonises with the singular dignity and courtesy of their manners, but as I look at the grand heads, and reflect that the Ainos have never shown any capacity, and are merely adult children, they seem to suggest water on the brain rather than intellect. I am more and more convinced that the expression of their faces is European. It is truthful, straightforward, manly, but both it and the tone of voice are strongly tinged with pathos."

Capacity = developed civilization or the almighty "industriousness" which were all-important to Victorians.

Also, the use of savage was ubiquitous when speaking about those societies that the Victorians did not consider sufficiently "civilized" and did not necessarily always have the same connotations that it always does today. A point worth noting this savage/child-like connection is this (from http://www.representingchildhood.pitt...)

"Even as sentimentality about childhood reached new heights, the notion that all children are savages likewise gained widespread support; many Victorians accepted the “Law of Recapitulation,” which stipulated that as a child develops, he or she repeats the stages of development of the human race. This belief in “the savagery of all children and the childishness of all savages” served a justification for subjecting children to harsh discipline, and natives of other countries to the rule of the expanding British Empire."

So, overall, I did enjoy all the insight into traditional Japanese culture, both urban and rural (Bird was the first foreigner to visit most of the places she went in this book) as well as seeing the traditional life styles of the Ainu before it was pretty much obliterated by Japan (so very, very sad to see all the culture and tradition that has been lost when researching more after I read this), thus the four stars that I gave it. However the language is certainly horrible to the modern reader, but does provoke much thought and consideration on the history of racism and conquering (in this case the Japanese over the Ainus and all the eventual westernization of Japan).

I do think this is worth a read for those interested in the history of Japan, just be ready for all of the above.

[Kiri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isabella L. Bird rocks my world. I am continually in awe at her strength, persistence, and ability to rough it anywhere in the world. To top it off, she's a fabulous writer!

This book (like her others) is a collection of the letters she wrote home to her sister in England while she traveled the world in the 1870s "for her health". In this book, she reports on her observations of Japan, including her adventures on truly unbeaten tracks, interactions with the natives, continual suffering from fleas, lack of food, and other travel inconveniences. It's fascinating reading, and I find myself humbled and awed by her fortitude. I read this just before visiting Japan myself (including Nikko but not the aborigines). Boy, do we have it easy today!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The back cover blurb rightly lauds Bird as a feminist pioneer and astute observer of rural Japanese life in the late 19th century; however, the blurb doesn't mention Bird's embarrasing attitude towards the majority of those people (with the exception of the Ainu). She describes people in dehumanising terms (such as "creatures"), and consistently talks about how ugly and wretched and diseased they are. I suppose it's too much to expect cultural relativism from her era, but I found many parts of the book to be pretty distasteful.

[Beth Gea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un libro interesante, aunque tiene que ser leído entendiendo el contexto en el que fue escrito y quién es quien lo escribe: pocos años después de que Japón fuera forzado a abrirse a los extranjeros, a finales del s XIX, escrito por una mujer nacida y criada en la Inglaterra victoriana y que interpreta todo lo que ve en su camino a través una mentalidad imperialista y colonialista.

Para ella, todo lo que es "bonito" es europeo, y todo lo que es "feo" es salvaje y asiático. Hasta el punto de describir a una mujer Ainu de esta manera:

A very ugly Aino woman, hardly human in her ugliness

Evidentemente, en su cabeza imperialista no cabe la posibilidad de que los Ainus piensen que la que es tan fea que casi no parece humana sea ella. De hecho, en muchos lugares los japoneses no sabían decir si era hombre o mujer y muchos niños salían corriendo al verla llegar porque se pensaban que era un demonio...

Pero a parte de la curiosidad de poder ir comparando qué ha cambiado de Japón y qué no, el libro se lee taaaaaaan lento como se supone que es el viaje de esta mujer a través de Japón.

La capacidad literaria de esta mujer no es para tirar cohetes y las descripciones del paisaje se hacen muy repetitivas y cansinas. Entiendo que en la época serían lo más, porque no contaban con la televisión para poder ver las cosas de primera mano, y es encomendable el esfuerzo que hace para escribir con corrección los términos japoneses y los nombres de los lugares que visita.

Sin embargo, a mi me hubiese gustado más leer sobre la relación que se formó entre ella e Ito, las conversaciones, no sé, algo más humano y no tanta descripción de plantas y flores sobre las que no tengo ni idea.

[Monica San Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relato de viajes en formato epistolar del Japón mas aislado de finales del s.XIX, es increíble como una mujer británica sola se lanzara a tal aventura por unas tierras absolutamente inexploradas por ningún occidental, aunque en realidad no debería sorprenderme porque hay bastantes mas casos de mujeres viajeras con grandes inquietudes por el conocimiento como la gran Gertrude Bell, la periodista Nellie Bly, la aviadora Beryl Markham y otras muchas que se impusieron a los prejucios de su época e hicieron lo que les dió la gana. En cuanto al relato en sí es realmente descriptivo tanto en los paisajes, como las costumbres o los propios individuos, quizás puede resultar demasiado repetitivo pero a mi realmente me transportó a esas tierras japonesas inexploradas, en definitiva creo que un libro muy interesante y recomendable

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this 5 stars not because it's a work of great literary merit but because the tale it tells is truly amazing. Imagine traveling as a foreigner from Yokohama all the way to the far reaches of Hokkaido ... in 1878. And this is not a hardy, experienced and intrepid traveler but a Victorian lady who had been advised to "leave home" for recovering her health. Most of the book in the form of letters to her sister, a form which, as Ms Bird readily admits, "involves the sacrifice of artistic arrangement and literary treatment". The letters have an immediacy which makes one feel that they are accompanying this extraordinary woman on her extraordinary journey. It is far from a conventional travelogue: there are frequent and disturbingly vivid accounts of the "vicissitudes of travel", which include long treks on horseback and almost daily efforts to cope with the attacks of fleas and lice that seem to be everywhere. But that is offset by Ms Bird's wonder at the many discoveries she makes because she avoids the beaten tracks except for a lengthy and detailed description, to the point of occasional tedium, of the wonders of Nikko. More than one-third of the book is taken up by her 4-month journey of discovery through Hokkaido and especially her encounters with the Ainu people. This is by far the most fascinating part of the book and the effect is enhanced by the author's many functional illustrations. Altogether an amazing document that makes it very clear, much more than most other books and articles I have read on the subject, how much and how profoundly Japan has changed in less than 150 years.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isabella Brid gives us a view that the history books leave out of Japan in early Meiji. It's fascinating to see what aspects of Japanese culture have stayed constant, and which have changed radically. At the same time, what a piece of imperialist writing this is! What kind of "explorer" needs to be carried by "natives"? This book says as much about British assumptions of power and propriety as it does about the Japanese.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author seemed extremely curious, exploring, for example, "savage people" and cremation service. Her descriptions are very detailed, if at places quite repetitive and lack of distillation. The book is a good source of imagery not only of Japan in 1878, but also of how prejudice a British such as the author could be at the time (she was very generous in throwing onto her very friendly hosts adjectives such as 'ugly', 'stupid', 'abominable', 'grotesque', 'savage', 'terrible', etc.).

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this is an old box of books and decided to read it because I enjoy travelogues. But it was so dry! A real tedious read. Scenes which the reader was assured are beautiful seemed so mundane when described. A thesaurus was in dire need because I've never experienced such repetitive word use in one book before. And I feel bad for saying it because in the preface Isabella L Rice explains to the reader that she is not (by any stretch of the imagination) a writer. She tells the reader that after having traversed Japan, she thought it would be good to publish her experience as a contrast to all other literature romanticing Japan (at the time - late 1800s). She categorically states that this piece of non-fiction is for truth and she certainly delivers a tell-all account of the good, the bad, and the ugly. A respectable endeavour, but not a great literary one.

[Iza Brekilien · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF around 150 pages.
As much as I wish to admire a woman of the XIXth century travelling alone to Japan and going on "unbeaten tracks", as much as I know that she was from the XIXth century and that her observations were probably bound to be racist, I just found the book boring. Lots of descriptions, not even an attempt at learning the culture, language, etc, she just takes notes and think the Japanese are "ugly".

It's pouring outside (like in the book), it's been pouring all this grey year, I just want to dive into an interesting book and not feel obligated to finish this one.

[Rubí Santander · Rating 3 out of 5]

"En muchos países europeos y ciertamente en algunas partes del mío, Gran Bretaña, una señora que viaja sola con ropa extranjera se halla expuesta con frecuencia a la rudeza, al insulto y la extorsión, si no a verdaderos peligros. En este país, en cambio, no me he encontrado con un solo caso de mala educación o de que me hayan cobrado más de la cuenta, y no hay modales rudos ni siquiera en las multitudes."

[Onírica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesantísimo. Haré una reseña larga dentro de poco.

[Alexander Páez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reseña completa

Isabella Bird (1831-1904) fue la primera mujer que viajó en solitario por Japón. La editorial La Línea del Horizonte acaba de publicar su cuaderno de viaje titulado Japón inexplorado (1880) traducido por Carlos Rubio. Una crónica de uno de los viajes más apasionantes por las islas de Japón jamás narrados. Y no es decir poco, ya que me he leído unos cuantos (como En el barco de Ise, o Tiempos de Hiroshima). Isabella Bird fue una mujer extraordinaria en el sentido literal de la palabra. ¿Os imagináis un viaje en solitario por todo Japón, desde Hokkaido hasta Kyushu, en una época en la que apenas había extranjeros en el país? ¿Os imagináis viajar a pie, en carro, a caballo, en barco, y conocer un país principalmente rural, con unos habitantes que en poquísimas ocasiones veían a un occidental? Bird no solo viajó por el país nipón, sino que además ya había visitado otros lugares como China, Corea, Vietnam, Singapur, Persia e incluso Irán.

Japón inexplorado es un cuaderno de viajes narrado en primera persona y que describe con todo lujo de detalles el viaje completo de Bird por Japón, pasando por lugares que todavía no habían sido documentados por ningún viajero occidental, como la ya mencionada isla de Hokkaido al norte donde conoció a los nativos ainu que allí habitaban (y habitan). La estructura narrativa se construye a partir de las cartas que la exploradora británica le envía a su hermana y a su círculo cercano de amigos, de este modo el lector tiende a sentirse mucho más inmerso en la narración y de un modo directo, como si estuviera ocurriendo en ese mismo instante y no se tratara de un recuerdo lejano.

Este cuaderno de viaje no se trata de un libro sobre Japón, que quede claro, es una narración de un viaje por Japón, y como la propia autora indica, un intento de contribuir al conocimiento del resto de naciones sobre este país. No deja de ser curioso leer el disgusto de esta exploradora británica ante ciertas costumbres que chocaban mucho con ciertas expectativas que tenía de este exótico país, y que ella consideraba incluso como faltas de decoro. Por lo tanto, el libro es hijo de su tiempo, y es inevitable captar un fuerte poso clasista, eurocentrista y crítico hacia las distintas costumbres y tradiciones japonesas, en especial cuando Bird visitaba localizaciones rurales. Su visión es etnocéntrica y, como ya he dicho, es algo inevitable. Pero creo que es parte del encanto de este cuaderno, así como Kipling en su día escribió aquellas breves páginas sobre su viaje a Japón y describía lo que veía con cierta prepotencia eurocentrista, Bird no solo no lo evita, sino que considera una herramienta interesante el análisis y el juicio de todo aquello que veía desde su posición de “ciudadana de una civilización avanzada”. En cualquier caso, que esto no os desanime, pues es algo común en estos cuadernos de viajes del siglo XIX. Personalmente me quedo con el magnífico relato de esta mujer que no sintió reparo alguno en adentrarse en solitario en Japón, expuesta a todo tipo de peligros, imprevistos y con un desconocimiento casi absoluto del lugar y sus gentes. Isabella Bird logra un retrato maravilloso y con un punto de exótico de ese Japón del siglo XIX que muy pocos occidentales lograron visitar.

[Darcy Gresley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unbeaten Tracks in Japan is a very difficult book to read in 2020 – the language used by Isabella L. Bird is harsh, offensive and derogatory towards the Japanese people she meets in her travels. To say that she has contempt for the poorer people she meets, within countryside villages, is an understatement; she talks of them as though thy are little better than animals. She particularly highlights, in her opinion, uncleanliness and stupidity. However these people, in fact all the people she stays with during her journey, offer her the upmost respect and hospitality that is within their means; some even despair that what they have to offer such an ‘honoured guest’ is not enough. She writes that she is conscientious in her efforts not to offend anyone and takes considerable time to learn Japanese customs that are greatly appreciated by her hosts. Yet it is difficult for the reader to appreciate this themselves, when in the same paragraph she describes these people as ‘abominably dirty’. I.L.B states in the preface that her descriptions are ‘strictly representative’ and ‘offered in the interest of truth’. Despite this, it does not make Unbeaten Tracks any less of an uncomfortable read.

[Alison]

What a coincidence, I just realized that all three explorers in my list of books were born in Yorkshire. James Cook, Douglas Mawson, and now Isabella L. Bird.

This is an extraordinary book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Bird's letters describing her journey through Tohoku and Hokkaido in 1878. I like the way she engaged totally with her surroundings, asking lots of questions, visiting houses, hospitals, people and writing detailed descriptions of everything. The Japan she describes is not the one I've envisioned from period dramas and history books. Her writing is alive and colored by her personality; she's obviously very intelligent, knows a lot about geology, and is a born explorer!

The Hokkaido section and description of her travels through the Ainu villages in particular were fascinating. For a person of her time and nationality, and despite her ingrained assumptions of religious and cultural superiority, she's very respectful and sympathetic of other cultures, the Ainu in particular.

I finished this book wishing I could have seen the natural landscape of Japan that she saw. It sounds like a beautiful, lost country.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

People seem to either love or hate this book and just to be contrary I am giving it three stars. All the negative criticisms that I have read about this book are right on the money, but so are the positive ones. There was a point in my reading that I wished she were alive so I could slap her. One point? No, several points. I simply could not understand how she could keep referring to the Ainu as savages and while simultaneously sing their praises, What was her definition of savage? Not European?

So, why three stars? You can download the book without charge from the Gutenberg press,read the first set of letters, which are fascinating, skip the middle when it gets repetitive, and go to the letters that describe the Ainu.

I read the book in anticipation of.a trip to Japan and found that it informed my experiences while in the country. It is difficult to be precise as to how, but the book helped me see continuities and discontinuities across time. It also increased the admiration I felt for the accomplishments of the Japanese people during the last century. They have definitely traveled a long road, much longer than Isabella's!

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved spending time in Japan, with these fascinating travelling memoirs – told through letters.
I’m enjoying more and more Isabella Lucy Bird’s style and daring, as she goes in the Japan of the interior, where no foreigner had ever been, including spending time in an Ainu village.

Check my review here:
https://wordsandpeace.com/2025/03/20/...

[Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.50 star

It's my delight to see this book on display on the shelf at the DASA BookCafe once again, I first browsed its hardcover with various fine black-and-white illustrations on the front cover and inside on Floor 6 in the Books Kinokuniya, Takashimaya Times Square Annexe Branch, in Tokyo during our second visit there on November 14, 2015. I found reading it fantastic and worth spending one's time since the author, as a 47-year-old lady traveler, has proved herself formidable in her spirit and fortitude in 1878 (May-December); a reason was that her doctors had advised her to travel for fresh air and strength because of her weakness from birth. Consequently, I found reading her travel narrations in Japan informative and entertaining from her book of 44 letters with 40 illustrations to her sister, Henrietta, in England; amazingly, she became famous in her lifetime as one of the most adventurous woman travelers in the 19th century while ladies were normally expected to stay at home, she simply made her journeys through America, Hawaii, Japan, Malay, Tibet, Korea, China, Turkey, and Morocco.

It's interestingly unique because "This book is the first record on the interior of Japan by a westerner. She observed the ordinary Japanese village and town life including their dress, food, religion, house and customs in the late 19th century. Her observations on the Ainu are very unique. She provides us the interesting and valuable account of travels." (back cover)

To illustrate the synopsis's point, a few of her observant narratives extracted as exemplary texts would be briefly taken as follows for better understanding:

. . . Every foot of land which can be seen from the railroad is cultivated by the most careful spade husbandry, and much of it is irrigated for rice. Streams abound, and villages of grey wooden houses with grey thatch, and grey temples with strangely curved roofs, are scattered thickly over the landscape. It is all homelike, liveable, and pretty, the country of an industrious people, for not a weed is to be seen, but no very striking features or peculiarities arrest one at first sight, unless it be the crowds everywhere. (pp. 11-12)

. . . I have neither been kicked, bitten, nor pitched off, however, for mares are used exclusively in this district, gentle creatures about fourteen hands high, with weak hind-quarters, and heads nearly concealed by shaggy manes and forelocks. They are led by a rope round the nose, and go barefoot, except on stony ground, when the mago, or man who leads them ties straw sandals on their feet. The pack-saddles composed of two packs of straw eight inches thick, faced with red, and connected before and behind by strong oak arches gaily painted or lacquered. (p. 62)

. . . They had not seen a foreigner before, they said, they would despise themselves for taking anything, they had my "honorable name" in their book. Not only that, but they put up a parcel of sweetmeats, and the man wrote his name on a fan and insisted on my accepting it. I was grieved to have nothing to give them but some English pins, but they had never seen such before, and soon circulated them among the crowd. I told them truly that I should remember them as long as I remember Japan, and went on, much touched by their kindness. (p. 129)

From her Wikipedia website (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabell...), she has since been famous as a 19th-century explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist. Formidably, she was the first woman elected Fellow of the Royal Geography Society; therefore, she was a knowledgeable lady so it's no wonder whenever I came across some Latin names of plants unknown to me (it's a pity no common names given) while traveling along her "unbeaten tracks" in Japan. For example:

. . . ; but in this case there were two square boxes, the outer one being of finely planed wood of the Retinospora obtuse. (p. 150)

One side looked into a little mildewed court, with a slimy growth of Protococcus viridis, . . . (p. 153)

Trees of immense height and girth, specially the beautiful Salisburia adiantifolia, . . . (p. 309)

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rich and engrossing account of an amazing 1,400 mile journey through the wild northern island of Japan by a most intrepid, courageous and observant lady. In 1878 Isabella Bird was in poor health. Based on the introduction in the 1971 edition she was suffering from depression. Since she had travelled widely and published several books on travel, a trip to Japan seemed a good idea to cheer her up. As an upper middle class Victorian lady in her mid-40s she had a ready welcome in the diplomatic community of Japan, but comfort and touristic sites were that last thing she seems to have wanted. The “unbeaten tracks of Japan” particularly of the northern Island, Hokkaido, which was at that time mostly inhabited by the uncivilized, but not essentially primitive Aino people, the aboriginal inhabitants of Japan.
The first part of the book covers her trip across Honshu, the southern, rapidly westernizing main island. Although she gets to enjoy the hospitality of English diplomats and the Japanese government she soon sets off into the increasingly wild north accompanied by Ito, her interpreter, who is bright, practical and helpful, but who at times clearly finds himself in situations in rough country that he would have avoided if he was not bound by contract to accompany the indomitable Bird. Her descriptions of the places she goes and the people she meets are vivid. She had the talent to win the trust of people she did not even share language with so you learn a great deal about the customs and culture of the communities she spends time in.
It’s travelogue that at times is also an action adventure as she struggles up mountains, fords rivers and generally refuses to be limited by rough trails, landslides, fuming volcanos, frail horses, flea and mosquito infested `hotels’ and unpalatable and meager food. When I switched from e-reader to paper (from plane to sofa!) I found that the illustrations in the paper copy closely matched the images she had created in my mind through her rich and evocative language.
I can’t wait to read about her travels in Hawaii, Korea, China and Tibet.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at 1878 Japan through the eyes of Isabella Bird, a British woman who traveled the world alone. It's also a fascinating look at Isabella, who is intrepid and quite complicated. She insists on traveling the "unbeaten tracks" of Japan, literally making her way through the remotest parts of northern Japan and visiting places that no non-Japanese has ever gone. I found many of her observations quite interesting. She described the living conditions of northern Japan in a way you don't see in most English-language books, and given that she was already an experienced traveler, I generally trust those observations to be accurate. Her view point was also surprisingly modern at times, though of course there were plenty of regretful comments about the lack of Christianity and its moralizing influence as well discussions of uncivilized (if pleasant) savages. Perhaps the most surprising comment was her regret that the Ainu were proliferating rather than dwindling, likely because she thought them incapable of ever becoming civilized. I think what complicates Isabella the most is her determination when it comes to travel. More than once, they encountered seriously dangerous conditions as the countryside dealt with unusually high amounts of rainfall. I was impressed with how undeterred she was by obstacles, but I frequently felt that she put herself and her party in unnecessary danger by insisting they push on because she doubted conditions were as serious as the locals told her. I suppose any great explorer benefits from the desire to be the "first" and a sense that they are smarter than everyone around them, but it also showed the darker side of exploration.

[Elizabeth Reuter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was a letdown. I was excited to read this based on the opening letter where I could see Bird's ability to write entertaining, witty prose that comes alive. Unfortunately she chose not to do so! The more the book went on, the more repetitive and shallow the letters grew, until I had to struggle to finish. A few details she wrote about were interesting, but for the most part she either never spoke to any people, or just didn't record it. Instead she repeated over and over again how poor and filthy people were and how places she stayed were full of fleas, garnishing that with horrible descriptions of cruelty to animals.

Those details themselves were worth repeating, but why were they the only ones she recorded? While she traveled around the country, couldn't she have spoken to more people through her translator to learn about them or at least the local area? She adds a few details here and there, such as how much people adore their children and how Ainu culture varies between tribes, but she tells us so few of these tidbits, and forget digging any deeper.

Disappointing, repetitive, and shallow.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like to read books by and about 19th and early 20th century women travelers. Isabella Bird was around 40 when she traveled to Japan in 1878, only about a decade after Japan became open to the rest of the world. As a young adult Isabella had been advised by a physician to travel as a way to overcome some infirmity. She does occasionally mention problems with her back and needing some recovery time, but she travels over territory and by all sorts of means that would totally intimidate a traveler today. We see a view of Japanese life that is not often described. She has a rather narrow view of other cultures, but that does not diminish what she describes. At time she is able to open up and appreciate another point of view, but she is always stalwart in her travel and her ability to keep going becomes the main theme of the book. I tried to keep the timeframe in mind and appreciate what she was doing and not judge her with 21st century eyes and values.

[Laurel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unbeaten Tracks in Japan is probably the most infuriating book I've tried to review. The content - some of the earliest descriptions of rural Japanese life documented by Western eyes - is truly fascinating... Isabella Bird herself, however, was frustratingly a woman of her age, to a rage-inducing degree. A woman who needed to plead "ill-health" to go exploring in, at times, primitive and hard conditions, her attitude towards the Japanese and particularly the Ainu people she meets on her travels can, at best, be described as "benignly condescending". Typically for an Englishwoman of the Victorian era, she adamantly refuses to see them as equals (or possibly even humans, referring to them by terms such as "mannikins" and "savages"), and constantly castigates them for any behaviour which is not convenient to her (even those behaviours she indulges in herself).

I persevered, purely because her descriptions of the natural world are stunning, but it took a lot of deep breaths.

[Stella · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband read this book to me. This is my first book by the author, and I loved it. Not for the writing (although there are plenty of beautiful, almost lyrical passages when she describes natural beauty or her favorite natives, the Aino people), but for how a woman of a certain age in a time where women did not travel by themselves explored what we today call “off the beaten path” parts of the world with ease, poise, and a quiet yet distinct spirit of adventure. Isabella Bird gets dirty, wet, gawked at, bitten by fleas and mosquitoes, falls off horses almost daily, wades stormy rivers in a Victorian dress, all without a word of complaint, and actually happily reporting on all these! She is an excellent travel writer, describing, in astounding detail, parts of Japan which not even many Japanese (let alone foreigners) have explored in her time. An exceptional woman, and a true explorer. I am so happy I was accidentally introduced to her, and plan to read many more of her other books.

[Maddy]

Such an interesting book. Was a bit disappointed that the author was hailed as a feminist icon in the preface and introduction, with not even a token mention of her flagrant racism. That said, her flagrant racism is somewhat tempered by the end of the book - I get the impression that Ms. Bird was really struggling with the ideology she grew up with. She'll praise Japanese people who were helpful, polite and kind to her, and then say something ridiculous about the "Japanese physique" or how Buddhism teaches them to lie (?!). She also seems distressingly unsympathetic to very poor people, since she's too busy being shocked by how little clothing they can apparently afford to own or wear. Anyway, reading about the places I've been to in Japan was interesting, as her trip took place in 1876. The Asakusa temple ground was market mayhem even then! Made me wish I'd gone to Hokkaido.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read this book I had a couple of thoughts....She was very racist, although she would probably not have realized so as a product of her time. The other thought was how little things have changed in Japan since her travels! Oh, of course there are better roads and ways of transportation, but the Japanese people themselves haven't changed very much.

I enjoyed this account of her travels very much. As a long time resident in Japan I found myself nodding along at some of her travails and thinking how much more brave she was than I am. I came after Japan was "known" in the 1990's, she came to Japan in the 1870's, when there was much less information about Japan available.