# The History of Japan (Kaempfer)/Volume 1/Life of the Author

The
Life of the Author.
By the Translator.
ngelbert Kæmpfer was born on the 16th of September 1651, at Lemgow, a ſmall town in the Circle of Weſtphalia, belonging to the Count de Lippe. His Father John Kæmpfer was Miniſter of the Church of S. Nicholas in that town, and his Mother Chriſtiana Dreppers, a Daughter of Joachim Drepper, formerly Miniſter of the ſame Church. He had, ſo far as his Father’s circumſtances would permit, a very liberal education, and becoming the profeſſion he was deſign’d for, which was that of Phyſick. He begun his ſtudies at the ſchool of Hameln, in the Dutchy of Brunſwick, and was ſent from thence to Lunebourgh, Hambourgh and Lubeck, at all which places he diſtinguiſhed himſelf by an induſtrious application and ready progreſs in the learned languages, Hiſtory, Geography, and Muſick both vocal and inſtrumental. He made ſome ſtay at Dantzick, where he gave the firſt publick ſpecimen of his proficiency, by a Diſſertation De Majeſtatis Diviſione, defended in 1673, and then went to Thorn. He ſtaid three years at the Univerſity of Cracow in Poland, ſtudying Philoſophy and foreign languages, and having took his degree of Doctor in Philoſophy at that place, he repair’d to Konigsberg in Pruſſia, where he ſpent four years in cloſe application to the ſtudy of Phyſick and Natural Hiſtory, his ​Father’s deſign, and his own genius and inclinations, happily concurring to bend his thoughts that way. ’Twas here he laid the foundation of thoſe many excellent and uſeful diſcoveries and obſervations, which he had afterwards frequent opportunities to make in the long courſe of his travels.
He went from Pruſſia into Sweden, where his learning and diſcreet behaviour quickly brought him into great reputation, both at the Univerſity of Upſal, and at the Court of Charles XI. a munificent Patron of men of learning, inſomuch that very advantageous offers were made him towards an eſtabliſhment in that Kingdom, which he thought fit to decline, deſirous as he always was of ſeeing foreign Countries, and choſe to prefer the place of Secretary of the Embaſſy, which the Court of Sweden was then ſending to the King of Perſia. The main deſign of this Embaſſy was to ſettle a Commerce between the Kingdoms of Sweden and Perſia, though at the inſtances of the Emperor Leopold, the Ambaſſador, Luis Fabritius, had orders, by a ſeparate article, to engage, if poſſible, the King of Perſia a rupture with the Ottoman Porte. As the firſt and chief, the ſettling of a Commerce, could not well be effected, unleſs their Czarian Majeſties (Iwan and Peter, who then jointly governed the Ruſſian Empire) would conſent to give paſſage to the European as well as Perſian Commodities, through their dominions, upon reaſonable terms, the Ambaſſador was order’d firſt of all to repair to the Court of Moſcow, and there to make an agreement concerning that matter. It is foreign to my preſent purpoſe, to enter either into the deſign or ſucceſs of M. Fabritius his negotiations, any farther than it will lead me to follow Dr. Kæmpfer through Muſcovy into Perſia.
He ſet out from Stockholm, with the preſents for the King of Perſia, on the 20th of March 1683, O.S. and went through Aaland, Finland, and Ingermanland to Narva, where he met the Ambaſſador with a retinue of thirty perſons. A miſtake in the Ambaſſadors Credentials, where the name of the King of Perſia was through inadvertency put before that of their Czarian Majeſties, and the unwillingneſs of the Waywode of Novogorod, to furniſh the neceſſary expences to conduct and defray him, ​with his retinue, purſuant to the tenour of the Treaties ſubſiſting between the two Crowns, detain’d them upon the borders of Ruſſia a conſiderable time: But theſe difficulties having been at laſt amicably adjuſted, M. Fabritius purſued his journey through Novogorod to Moſcow, where he made his publick entry on the 7th of July, and was admitted to an audience of their Czarian Majeſties on the 11th.
M. Fabritius having finiſh’d his Negotiations at the Ruſſian Court in ſomething leſs than two months, ſet out from Moſcow on his way to Perſia, falling down the Rivers Moſco, Occa and Wolga, to Caſan and Aſtracan, two conſiderable towns, and the Capitals of two powerful Kingdoms, which were conquer’d and annex’d to the Ruſſian Empire by that heroick Prince Iwan Baſilowitz. After a dangerous paſſage over the Caſpian Sea, where they were like to have been loſt, through the violence of an unexpected ſtorm, and the unskilfulneſs of their Pilots, (the ſhip having two Rudders, and conſequently two Pilots, who did not underſtand each other’s language) they got ſafe to the Coaſts of Perſia, and landed at Niſabad, where they ſtaid for ſome time, living under tents after the manner of the natives. Two other Ambaſſadors to the Perſian Court, one from the King of Poland, and another from their Czarian Majeſties, having landed at Niſabad much about the ſame time, they proceeded jointly to Siamachi, the Capital of the Province of Schirwan, in the Media of the Ancients, or, as it is now call’d, Georgia, where they arrived about the middle of December, and ſtaid till the Governor of that Town and Province had ſent notice of their arrival to the Perſian Court, and received orders from thence after what manner they were to be treated, and which way to be ſent to Court. Dr. Kæmpfer, in the mean time, did not ſit idle, but went all about the neighbourhood of Siamachi, herborizing and obſerving what was remarkable in nature and art, ſo far as otherwiſe his affairs, and a ſucceſsful and not improfitable practice of Phyſick, which the reputation of his being an European Phyſician quickly brought him into in that populous place, would permit. We ſhould be ſtill wanting that curious and accurate account, which he hath ​given us in his Amœnitates Exoticæ, of the origin and fountains of the Naphta in the Peninſula Okeſra, if he had not been at the pains to go and view them upon the ſpot. Few are ſenſible what a pleaſure a Natural Hiſtorian receives, when ſome new and ſingular Phænomenon in nature offers in places unfrequented. Dr. Kæmpfer had the ſatisfaction of finding in that Median Peninſula even more than he look’d for, and inſtead of one he went to ſee, to meet, as he ſaith, with no leſs than ſeven wonders: The town of Baku on the Caſpian Sea, the remaining monuments of Antiquity in the neighbourhood thereof, the fountains of Naphta, the burning field, boiling lake, a mountain which threw out a fine potters-earth, and ſome other ſingularities, truly many for ſo ſmall a compaſs of ground, made him abundant amends for the trouble, and even the hazard of his excurſion thither.
Upon the return of the expreſſes ſent to the Court of Perſia, M. Fabritius ſet out on his journey thither about the middle of January 1684, as did alſo the Poliſh and Ruſſian Ambaſſadors with their retinues: but being order’d to travel different ways, the Swediſh Embaſſy reach’d Iſpahan, the Capital of Perſia, ſome time before the others.
Schah Solyman, King of Perſia, a Prince of a tender and ſickly conſtitution, was then, by the advice of his Aſtrologers, under a ſort of a voluntary confinement to his Palace. Apprehenſive of the fatal conſequences of a malignant conſtellation, they would not permit him to go abroad, and to appear in publick, till the 30th of July, on which day he treated his whole Court with the utmoſt ſplendor and magnificence. There were at that time ſeveral foreign Ambaſſadors at Iſpahan, from the Kings of Sweden, Poland and Siam, the Czars of Muſcovy, ſeveral Arabian and Tartarian Princes, and ſome alſo with Letters Credentials from the Pope, the Emperor of Germany, and the King of France, who were ſeverally admitted to audience on the ſame day, it being the cuſtom of the Perſian Kings not to let the Ambaſſadors of foreign Powers appear in their Royal Preſence, but on ſome ſuch ſolemn occaſion as this was, in a full aſſembly of their numerous Court, and in the moſt pompous ​manner poſſible. M. Fabritius had the honour of being introduced to his audience before the reſt, and indeed during the whole time of his abode at Iſpahan, which was near two years, he had very particular and diſtinguiſhing honours ſhewn him, whereby it appear’d, that neither his perſon, nor buſineſs, had been diſagreeable to the Perſian Court. Dr. Kæmpfer, whoſe curious and inquiſitive diſpoſition ſuffer’d nothing to eſcape unobſerved, made all poſſible advantages of ſo long a ſtay in the Capital of the Perſian Empire. His main and favourite enquiries indeed, here and every where in his travels, tended chiefly to the improvement of Phyſick and Natural Hiſtory in their ſeveral branches, and he hath abundantly ſhewn, by his Amœnitates Exoticæ, that his endeavours that way have not been unſucceſsful. But he did not abſolutely confine himſelf to this ſubject, though large and extenſive enough: The Political Hiſtory of a Country, the ſucceſſion and remarkable actions of its Princes, the ſtate of their Court and Government, their perſonal qualities, vices or vertues, the cuſtoms, manners, inclinations of the natives, their way of life, trade, commerce, the remains of antiquity, the modern buildings, whether ſacred or civil, the flouriſhing or low condition of arts and ſciences, and many other things of the like kind, equally exerciſed his induſtry and attention. As to the Perſian affairs in particular, he was not a little aſſiſted in his reſearches by the Rev. F. du Mans, Prior of the Convent of Capuchins at Iſpahan; who had ſerved the Court of Perſia, in quality of Interpreter, for thirty years and upwards, and had acquired, beyond any European before him, a thorough knowledge of the Perſian language, government and cuſtoms, and a deeper inſight into the ſtate of that Court and Kingdom. And certainly, Dr. Kæmpfer’s account of Perſia, (as deliver’d in his Amœnitates) for accuracy and preciſeneſs may vye with the moſt conſiderable before or ſince.
M. Fabritius having brought his negotiations at the Perſian Court to a concluſion, towards the latter end of 1685, and preparing to return into Europe, Dr. Kæmpfer, for the reaſons alledged in his Preface to this Hiſtory of Japan, did not think fit to go back with him. He was indeed offer’d the place of ​chief Phyſician to a Georgian Prince, with conſiderable appointments, but his inclination to travelling being not yet abated led him farther into the Eaſt, and the advice of Father du Mans, with whom he had contracted a particular amity, during his ſtay at Iſpahan, with the recommendations he obtain’d of M. Fabritius, prevail’d upon him to enter into the ſervice of the Dutch Eaſt-India Company, in quality of chief Surgeon to the Fleet, which was then cruizing in the Perſian Gulph, a place, as he expreſſes himſelf in one of his letters, leſs honourable indeed, but more adapted to the deſign of his travels.
He left Iſpahan, on his journey to Gamron, or Benderabaſſi, a celebrated trading town on the Perſian Gulph, in November 1685, and was honourably attended a mile out of town by the Ambaſſador’s retinue. He made ſome ſtay at Sijras, both to make the neceſſary enquiries concerning the celebrated Perſian wines, which owe their name to that town, and to viſit the boaſted remains of the ancient Perſepolis, and the Royal Palace of Darius, that noble ſtructure, which fell a ſacrifice to wine and wantonneſs, and whole ſcattered ruins are a ſtill ſubſiſting undeniable monument of its former ſplendor and greatneſs.
The unhealthineſs of Gamron, for the ſultry heat of the air, and the want of water, is ſuch, that few Europeans can live there any conſiderable time, without great prejudice to their health; and even the natives are obliged, in the hot ſeaſon, to retire up into the mountains. Dr. Kæmpfer felt the effect of it ſoon after his arrival, falling into a malignant fever, of which he lay delirious for ſome days; however it pleaſed Providence to ſpare him: His fever abating, flung him into a dropſy, and that into a quartan ague, and ’twas by theſe dangerous and unuſual ſteps he recovered his health, but not his former ſtrength and vigour. As ſoon as he found himſelf in a condition to remove, he retired into the Country, for the change of air and the recovery of his his ſtrength, as well as in queſt of new diſcoveries and obſervations, chiefly on thoſe things which for the unhealthineſs of the Climate, and other difficulties, had not been before throughly and ſo accurately enquired into.
​To theſe his Summer expeditions, and retirement from Gamron, are owing: His account of the mountain Benna in the Province Laar, on the Gulph of Perſia, of its plants and animals, of the precious Bezoar, and the animal in whoſe ſtomach it is found, of the ſingular hot baths, a native balſam, and other curioſities obſerved on that mountain, and in the neighbourhood thereof: His deſcription of the Native Mummy, that moſt precious balſam, which ſweats out of a rock, in the Province Daar, and is gathered once a year with great pomp and ceremony, for the ſole uſe of the Perſian King: His obſervations on the Aſa Fœtida, of the Plant yielding that ſubſtance, which grows only in Perſia, and on the manner of gathering and preparing it: His obſervations of the Vena Medinenſis of Arabian writers, or Dracunculus, as he calls it, a ſingular worm bred between the interſtices of the muſcles, in ſeveral parts of the human body: His account of the Sanguis Draconis, I mean the true Eaſtern one, which he aſcertains to be obtain’d from the fruit of a Coniferous Palm: His curious and accurate Hiſtory of the Palma Dactylifera, growing in Perſia, its differing ſpecies, male and female, its culture, growth, preparation and uſes, far beyond whatever was known of this ſingular Tree: With many other obſervations, equally curious and uſeful, which may perhaps one time or other be communicated to the publick.
He did not leave Gamron till the latter end of June 1688. The Fleet, on board which he went, having orders to touch at moſt Dutch ſettlements in Arabia the Happy, the Great Mogul’s Country, upon the Coaſts of Malabar, in the iſland Ceylon, in the Gulph of Bengale, and the iſland of Sumatra, he had an opportunity of ſeeing all theſe ſeveral Countries, every where with the ſame ſpirit of induſtry, and the ſame thirſt, of knowledge. Had his ſtay there been greater, his obſervations alſo would have been more numerous.
He arrived at Batavia in September 1689, and ſtaid there ſome months. This wealthy and populous town, the chief ſeat of the Dutch power in the Indies, was then already ſo well known, and had been ſo particularly deſcribed by preceding ​writers, that Dr. Kempfer thought it altogether needleſs to make any enquiries concerning its riſe and flouriſhing condition, its commodious and agreeable ſituation, its trade and riches, its power and government, and the like, any farther than it was requiſite to ſatisfy his own curioſity. For this reaſon he turned his thoughts chiefly to the Natural Hiſtory of that Country, a far nobler ſubject, and more ſuitable to his taſte and capacity. The rich and curious garden of Cornelius van Outhoorn, who was then Director General of the Dutch Eaſt India Company, the garden of M. Moller, and the Iſland Eidam, which lies but a few leagues off Batavia, offer’d to his obſervation great numbers of rare and ſingular plants, native and foreign, many of them not known before, the deſcription and figures whereof he intended to publiſh, together with many others obſerv’d by him in the courſe of his Travels, particularly in Perſia, in the Iſland Ceylon, the Kingdom of Siam, and the Empire of Japan, all which are now in the hands of Sir Hans Sloane. He had moſt certainly many qualifications neceſſary to make a good Botaniſt, a competent knowledge of that ſcience, ſo far as it was improved in his time, a body enured to hardſhips, a great ſtock of induſtry and application, and which in my opinion is no leſs material, an excellent hand at drawing. With all theſe advantages he did not barely confine himſelf to the curious part of this ſcience, an accurate deſcription of the Plants and their parts, which though never ſo neceſſary, is yet thought too dry a ſubject by moſt readers. He endeavour’d to make his obſervations uſeful to mankind, and took a great deal of pains to enquire into the manifold uſes of the Plants he deſcribes, whether relating to Phyſick, Agriculture, Manufactures, and the like, as alſo into the way of cultivating and preparing them to make them ſerve for theſe ſeveral purpoſes. How happily he ſucceeded therein, the deſcription of the Tea and Paper-Tree, which I have inſerted into the Appendix to this Hiſtory, to inſtance in no more, will ſufficiently evince.
He ſet out from Batavia, on his voyage to Japan, in May 1690, in quality of Phyſician to the Embaſſy, which the Dutch Eat-India Company ſends, once a year, to the Japaneſe Emperor’s ​Court: And in order to make all poſſible advantages of this voyage, he obtain’d leave to go on board that Ship, which was order’d to touch at Siam, that thereby he might have an opportunity of feeing alſo that Kingdom. The obſervations he made in the courſe of this voyage, in the Kingdom of Siam, and afterwards during two years abode in the Empire of Japan, being the ſubject of this preſent work, it is needleſs here to enlarge on the ſame. Japan was not only the laſt Eaſtern Country he intended to viſit, but alſo that which he had been long deſirous to ſee, and always looked upon as a deſerving ſubject for a laborious enquiry. The ſcarce ſuperable difficulties, enough to deter even the moſt induſtrious, ſpurr’d him on to more painful ſearches, and he willingly ſacrificed his time, art and money, to procure, for himſelf and others, a thoroughly information of a Country, of which, till then, no ſatisfactory account had been given: With what ſucceſs he hath done it, is left to the publick to determine.
He quitted Japan, in order to his return into Europe, in November 1692, and Batavia in February 1693. He ſtaid near a month at the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Amſterdam in the month of October following. In April 1694, he took his degree of Doctor in Phyſick at the Univerſity of Leyden, and on this occaſion, as it is cuſtomary in foreign Univerſities, for Gentlemen aſpiring to the like promotions, to give a publick proof of their ability, by what they call Inaugural Theſes, he communicated to the learned world ten very ſingular and curious obſervations, he had made in foreign Countries, on the celebrated Agnus Scythica, or Borometz, a pretended Plant-Animal, which he ſhews to be a mere figment, occaſioned, perhaps, by ſome affinity of the name Borometz, with Borannetz in the Ruſſian, and Borannek in the Poliſh Language, whereby is denoted a particular kind of ſheep about the Caſpian Sea, in the Bulgarian Tartary and Choraſmia: On the bitter taſte of the waters in the Caſpian Sea: On the true Perſian Native Mummy, called Muminahi: On the Torpedo, a ſingular fiſh, which benumbs the fingers of thoſe who touch it: On the Sanguis Draconis made out of the fruit of a Coniferous Palm: On the ​Dracunculus, or Vena Medeni of Arabian writers: On the Andrum, a ſort of Hydrocele, or watry rupture, and the Perical, an Ulcer in the Legs, two endemial diſtempers, among the Malabarians: On the Japaneſe way of curing the Colick by the Acupunctura, and on the Moxa, a Cauſtick in frequent uſe among the Chineſe and Japaneſe.
Upon his return to his native Country, he intended forthwith to digeſt his Papers and written Memoirs into proper order, and to communicate to the publick what he had obſerved in his travels, and certainly, it would have been then the beſt time for it, when every thing was as yet freſh in his mind: But his reputation and experience, and the honour which the Count de Lippe, his Sovereign Prince, did him, by appointing him Phyſician to himſelf and his family, quickly involved him into ſo extenſive a practice, as with a multiplicity of other buſineſs, prevented his purſuing this laudable deſign with that vigour he himſelf deſired, and its own nature and importance deſerved. For theſe reaſons it was chiefly, that the Amœnitates Exoticæ did not appear in print till the year 1712. That work, which was only intended as a Specimen and Prodromus of others, met (as indeed for the number and ſingularity of new and curious obſervations it well deſerved) with a general applauſe, and begot, in all lovers of learning, an earneſt ſolicitation for his other works promiſed in the Preface, to wit, his Hiſtory of Japan, which is hereby offer’d to the publick, his Herbarium Ultra-Gangeticum, or the deſcription and figures of the Plants obſerved by him in ſeveral Eaſtern Countries beyond the Ganges, and laſtly, a compleat account of all his Travels.
He was married in 1700, to Maria Sophia Wilſtach, only daughter of Wolfrath Wilſtach, an eminent Merchant at Stolzenau, and had by her iſſue one ſon and two daughters, who all died in their infancy.
The long courſe of his Travels, the fatigues of his profeſſion, and ſome private misfortunes in his family, had very much impair’d his conſtitution, and in the latter part of his life he was often troubled with the Colick, of which he had two very ſevere attacks, one in November 1715, and another at the ​beginning of 1716. This laſt fit laid him up for three weeks, however he recover’d it ſo far, that he was able to attend the Count de Lippe and his Family, as their Phyſician, at Pyrmont, and return’d, in July, to his Country Seat at Steinhof near Lemgow in pretty good health. On the 5th of September folJowing he was ſuddenly ſeized with fainting fits, and a vomiting of blood, which continuing upon him all night, reduced him very low. From that time he continued in a lingring condition, though not altogether without hopes of recovery, having gather’d ſtrength ſo far, as to be able to walk about his room: But on the 24th of October, having been ever ſince this laſt attack troubled with a nauſea and loſs of appetite, his vomiting of blood return’d upon him with great violence, and a fever, which laſted till the ſecond of November, on which day he died, at five in the evening, 65 years and ſix weeks old. He was buried in the Cathedral Church of S. Nicolas at Lemgow.
Thus far my account of the Author’s Life and remarkable Travels, which I have traced chiefly from his own manuſcript memoirs, journals, letters to his friends, and the like, though I am indebted for ſome circumſtances to a ſermon, which was pronounced on his funeral by Bertholdus Haccius, a Miniſter at Lemgow, and printed at that place.