Policy Brief

June30,1, 2018
August2019

Dr. Monika Cha nsor ia is a
Tok yo -based Senior Fellow
at T he Japa n I nst it ute
of I nter nat iona l A f f a irs.
P r e v i o u s l y, s h e h a s h e l dappointments at the Sandia

Ekai Kawaguchi’s Expedition Inside
Tibet:
From the Frontier in July 1900,
to Lhasa in March 1901*

National Laboratories (U.S.),

Dr. Monika Chansoria

Hokkaido University (Sapporo,
Japan), and Fondation Maisondes S c ienc es de l ’ Hom me( Pa r is). Dr. Cha nsor ia has
authored five books including
her latest work, China, Japan,
and Senkaku Islands: Conf lictin the East China Sea Amid an
American Shadow (Routledge© 2018).

Standing atop the point where the snowcapped heads of the skyreaching Dhavalgiri ranges get interspersed with the undulating
stretch of the northeast prairies of Tibet, scattered with shining
streams of water, Ekai Kawaguchi was to keep heading north until
arriving at Lake Mānsarovar. Having nothing else to guide him but acompass and a survey that he carried along with, Kawaguchi recalledthat at the time of bidding adieu to his folks and friends back homein Japan, he had claimed to enter Tibet in three years. That day wasJune 26, 1897, and “… here I was, stepping on the soil of Tibet on
July 4, 1900” filled with mixed feelings of joy, gratitude and hope.
Brahmaputra – the Greatest of Tibetan Rivers

Disclaimer :The views expressed in thispublication are those of the authorand do not necessarily reflect thepolicy or position of The Japan
Institute of International Affairs or
any other organization with which
the author is affiliated.

Reaching Tamchok Khanbab that formed the upper course of
the Brahmaputra–the greatest of Tibetan rivers, Kawaguchi had tocross this gigantic watercourse. It was a general thing for a Tibetan
packhorse to carr y on its back, the rider, and approximately 30
pounds of baggage. Starting early morning, and having covered about
17 miles by noon, Kawaguchi arrived on the banks of the Tamchok
Khanbab.1 The river has been described as a mountain stream ofconsiderable breadth, with extensive sand-beaches on either side.
On the eastern side alone, the width of the beach was about two anda half miles and that on the opposite side about half as much. The
width of the stream, while crossing, was not more than a little over amile, according to Kawaguchi.2
 his is the second paper in a continuing series tracing the travels and journey
Tof Japan’s first successful explorer inside Tibet in 1900, Ekai Kawaguchi. The
narrative, citations, and arguments of this paper are primarily excerpted andbased on Kawaguchi’s personal memoir published in 1909, titled Three Yearsin Tibet , [Theosophist Office, Vasanta Press, Adyar (Madras), British India.]
1 Chapter XIX, The Largest River of Tibet , pp. 109-110.
2 Ibid., p. 110.
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Upon terra firma on the other side, the men
accompanying Kawaguchi pointed to a gorge
between two mountains rising to the northwest,
and told him that he was to go through thegorge, and thereafter to Lake Mānsarovar, after
traversing an uninhabited region that would
take almost a fortnight. The road would takehim to Mānsarovar first, and then to Kang
Rinpoche.3 The next morning after traversing
the bush-land, Kawaguchi arrived at the footof a mountain. Half way up the slope he saw amountain stream flowing across, presenting
a rather curious sight. For the river, at a ver yshor t distance, broadened into a lake, andalmost at a right angle when flowing out of this,
into another basin. The name of this river was
Chema-yungdung-gi-chu and its waters flowed
and merged into the Brahmaputra.4

the state of a man who is nearing the point ofdeath.6
It was the four th of August 1900. After
proceeding about ten miles over an undulating
range of mountains, Kawaguchi came in sight ofthe majestic Man-ri peak at an altitude of 25,600
feet above sea level. The view of Man-ri covered
with perpetual snow, rising majestically highabove the surrounding mountains was sublimely
grand.7 Not bothering him with responsibilities
of gathering the yak dung, fetching water, orbuilding a fire, Kawaguchi was requested by thegroup of locals accompanying him to read theSacred Text and preach.8
Reaching Mā nsarovar and Mount Kailasa
It was on the sixth of August that Kawaguchi
and his group went up a slope that had an
extremely sharp inclination by riding a yak.
About 13 miles onwards, the view before
Kawaguchi’s eyes was mesmerizing. It was theexquisitely grand and scenic, Lake Mānsarovar,in the shape of a huge octagon, with marvelously
symmetrical indentations. The Lake, with its
clear placid waters, and the mighty Mount
Kailasa guarding its nor thwester n cor ner,formed a picture that was simultaneously uniqueand sublime amidst its dignified surroundings—
calm, dustless and rugged.9 The majestic Mount
Kailasa towered the peaks around. Kawaguchi
for a moment described that he fancied seeing
the image of Lord Buddha calmly addressing
500 disciples.10

Fur ther heading nor thwest in order toadhere to that course, Kawaguchi was now
faced with the challenge of climbing a snowclad peak towering into the sky, and could not
avoid it anyhow. Encouraged by the uncertain
hope of emerging in the neighborhood of Mount
Kailasa, he began the ascent of the great hill,called Kon Gyn-i Kangri. It rose 22,650 feetabove sea level. By that afternoon Kawaguchi
had ascended about ten miles, following which asnow blizzard occurred, turning first north andthen east,5 forcing him to make a rapid descent
and wrapping himself up by managing to smear
clove oil on his body to sur vive the extreme
cold and prevent, to some extent, the radiationof the body heat. The intensity of the cold
increased after midnight, and Kawaguchi felt
his sensations gradually deserting him, sending
him to a state of near trance, vaguely close toLake Mānsarovar is generally recognized as
the highest body of fresh water in the world,

3 Ibid.
4 Ibid., p. 119.
5 Chapter XXII, 22,650 Feet above Sea level , p. 124.
6 Ibid., p. 126.
7 Chapter XXVI, Sacred Mānsarovar and its Legends , p. 139.
8 Ibid., p. 140.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.

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Policy Brief

with an elevation of over 15,500 feet above sea
level. In Tibetan it is referred to as Mapham
Yum-tso. It is the Anavatapta of Samskrt (thelake without heat or trouble)–center of the
Buddhist legends. It is this Anavatapta, whichforms the subject of the famous poetic passage
in the Gospel of Kegon (named in Japanese)and in Samskr t Ā r ya-Buddha-Avatan-sakanāma Mahā vaipulya-Sū trā . The passage gives
the name of South Zenbu to a certain continentof the world. Zenbu is a deflection of jamb, aphonetic translation of the sound produced
when anything weighty falls into placid water.11

them plunging into the Lake to per for m
religious ceremonies. His understanding of the
Hindu religion made him conclude that Lake
Mānsarovar is considered to be a sacred sheetof water. The Hindus worship Mount Kailasa
rising sky-high above the Lake–as a material
manifestation of the sacred Lord Shiva, one ofthe deities of the Indian Trinity.14
Bartering System in Tibet
Tradition is to the T ibetans a heavenly
dictate, which controlled all social
arrangements. This was visible as Tibet, duringthat time, was trapped in the barter stage era,with ver y little money being used for trade.
People from the interiors would bring butter,marsh-salt, wool, sheep, goats, and yaks’ tails,
which they exchanged for corn, cotton, sugar
and cloth–imported from India by the Nepaleseand Tibetans, living in the snowy regions of
the Indian frontier. At times, especially while
selling wool and butter, they would take Indiancurrency. Perhaps the greatest problem for the
Tibetans, according to Kawaguchi, was being
ignorant and incapable of doing arithmetic andcalculations. Moreover, they did not possess
abacus to count with, and resorted to beads ofa rosar y. For an instance, in order to add fiveand two, they first counted five and then twobeads on the string, and then count the whole
number–thus making sure that the total number
was seven. Kawaguchi witnessed this andtermed it a ‘very tedious process’.15

In India, the river that flows from theLake in an easterly direction is known as theBrahmaputra, while the one that moves fromthe north towards the south is the Ganga. The
Sutlej flows away to the west, and the Sitā (Indus)
towards the north. Kawaguchi compared theactual sur veys of Lake Mānsarovar madeby European travellers to his own personal
experience and concluded that the maps he saw
representing Mānsarovar were far smaller thanit actually was. He depicts it as a very large bodyof fresh water, with a circumference of some
80 ri (about 200 miles).12 The shape of the lake
depicted in the western maps was misleading
according to Kawaguchi. He described it tobeing a fairly regular octagon with various
indentations resembling a lotus-flower inshape.13
To a certain extent, it would not be inapt tostate that Kawaguchi was lost in admirationof the magnificent mountain scener y thatsurrounded him on all sides. While walking
around Lake Mānsarovar he came across a few
Hindu and Nepalese devotees belonging to theupper Brahmana caste. Kawaguchi witnessed
11
12
13
14
15
16

Unsurprisingly, because of the above,
business transactions were rather slow. Whenit came to larger deals, involving several
kinds of goods and var ying prices, it wasalmost distractingly complicated. 16 For such

Ibid., p. 141.
Ibid., p. 144.
Chapter XXVII, Bartering in Tibet , p. 144.
Ibid., p. 146.
Ibid., p. 148.
Ibid.

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calculations, the locals took the aid of black
pebbles, white pebbles, bamboo sticks, andwhite shells. Each white pebble represented aunit of one. When they counted ten of these, itwould be substituted with a black pebble, whichmeant ten. Ten black pebbles were equivalent toone bamboo stick. Ten bamboo sticks became
one shell. And, ten shells became a Tibetan
silver coin.17 Kawaguchi stated that there wasno multiplication or division. In comparison,he bragged that a Japanese would take just 30
minutes to do what a Tibetan took three days
to calculate. Having stayed on the banks of
the river for three days, Kawaguchi watchedtraders doing their business with the painful andtediousness process of transactions.18

with its azure-blue waters. Landing on the
opposite bank of the river, Kawaguchi foundhimself at the outskirts of Lharche–the third cityof importance in Tibet at that time. Kawaguchi
claimed that upon reaching Lharche, he hadreached far into the interiors of the forbidden
country, as Tibet was known during that period.
From Lharche, it would take around five days ofjourney to Shigatze–Tibet’s second significant
city.20 Looking southward, what could be seen
by Kawaguchi was a caravan serai erected by
the Chinese that served the double purpose ofaccommodating the migrant Chinese tradersand native soldiers on march.21
Of all the districts in Tibet, Lharche suppliedbarley, wheat, beans, and butter at the lowest
possible prices, which testified its position withregards to agricultural products. Moving on,
Kawaguchi ascended a rapid slope for anotherfive miles and traversed cultivated fields forabout 11 miles going in a southeasterly direction,
and arrived at a hamlet called Rendah. The nextday, proceeding along the river for some 18
miles, Kawaguchi stood before the imposing
Buddhist monaster y of Sakya. Surrounded byhigh stonewalls of about 220 square yards, 20
feet high and six feet thick, the structures wereof stone, painted white, with the main edificealone measuring 60 feet in height, 200 feet fromeast to west, and 240 feet from south to north.
Over the bow-shaped walls rose a dark-colored
castle crowned with Saisho-doban (the victorious
Standard of Buddhism), and rodai (the disc forthe dew of nectar) in dazzling gold.22

Besides, in Tibet, as in other countries, taxes
were assessed on cultivated fields. However,mathematics not being a strong point among the
average Tibetan, as elaborated by Kawaguchi
earlier, a rather primitive method was adopted
for land measuring that formed the basis ofassessment. The method consisted of setting
two yaks drawing a plough, to work upon agiven area. The assessment was made according
to the time taken during the tillage. In otherwords, the dif ferent plots of cultivated lands
were classified as lands of half a day’s tillage, ora full day’s tillage, and assessed accordingly.19
Lharche to Shigatze Town
B y t h e 2 2 n d o f N o v e m b e r, K a w a g u c h iproceeded about 12 miles over a steep slope
and after crossing yet another stretch ofplains ar rived on the nor ther n bank of theBrahmaputra. The river in this spot was about
200 yards wide and not as quite in comparison
to earlier stretches. It appeared quite fathomless
17
18
19
20
21
22

On the fifth of December, Kawaguchi
proceeded about eight miles across plains in asoutheasterly direction, till he arrived upon tosee a gold-colored roof of a palatial building,

Ibid.
Ibid., pp. 148-149.
Chapter XXXIX, The Third Metropolis of Tibet , p. 237.
Ibid., p. 238.
Ibid., pp. 238-239.
Ibid., pp. 239-240.

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with many white-painted dormitories for priests
close by. The town before him was none otherthan Shigatze–the second capital of Tibet. The
palatial building described above was the Tashi
Lhunpo Temple–meaning ‘a glorious mass’ or‘Mount Sumeru’ the legendary mountain alluded
to in Buddhist Scriptures. The monaster yowes its name to its founder, Gendun Tub, whothought that the mountain at the rear of thetemple resembled Sumeru.23

Second Grand Lama was expected home ina procession. Due to the absence of roads inTibet the procession passed through the morebeaten par ts of the countr y, which ser ved
as roads. 26 The Grand Lama was borne in apalanquin decorated with gold brocades andgorgeous kinds of silk, accompanied by about
300 mounted attendants who, instead of being
armed, carried Buddhist utensils.27 The native
band that used wind instruments and drums
heralded the procession. Kawaguchi consideredhimself lucky having the good fortune of being
able to witness this grand spectacle.

The secular part of Shigatze lay beyond thetemple and consisted of some 3,500 dwellings.
The number of the inhabitants as stated by thenatives was over 30,000, however Kawaguchi
placed his doubts on the calculations that
arrived on this figure, given that the ‘scienceof statistics was utterly unknown in Tibet’according to him.24 The Lama Superior of thistemple was regarded as the second Grand Lamaof Tibet. Though he did not possess any politicalinfluence, yet was regarded superior, at times
even to the Dalai Lama himself, owing to therank that was bestowed by the Chinese Emperor.
Significantly, at times, a kind of regency under
this ‘Second Grand Lama’ took place during theinter val between the Dalai Lama’s death andthe enthronement of what in Tibet is believed
to be his re-incarnated self. The Second GrandLama, commonly called Panchen Rinpoche,holds the real title of Kyab-kon Chen-bo, meaning‘Great Protector’. His name was Lobsang Choeki Nima–the ‘noble-minded religious sun’, andlocals told Kawaguchi that Panchen Rinpoche
was eighteen years old, and apparently was bornin the year of the “sheep”.25

Leaving the temple on the mor ning ofDecember 15 th, Kawaguchi proceeded about
two miles across the city of Shigatze, reaching
the Tsanchu River. The great bridge erected
over the river was called Samba Shar, meaningeastern bridge. The bridge measured about
360 yards in length and eight yards in breadth.
Kawaguchi makes a comparison of these bridges
with those in Japan saying that unlike bridges
in Japan, it consisted of slabs of stones covered
with earth, which are placed upon rows of long
wooden boards, spanning stone str uctureserected in the water at equal distances of about
ten yards. The bridge has parapets made ofstone. Passing over the bridge, he proceeded
few more miles to the nor th, till he foundhimself on the bank of the Brahmaputra again.28
On the 31 st of December 1900, Kawaguchi
reminisces that he thanked Lord Buddha for
his grace that saved him through so many
calamities and af flictions during the year–it
being the last day of the 33rd year of the Meiji,
according to the Japanese mode of reckoning(A.D. 1900). Not knowing what adversities
were yet in store for him, Kawaguchi remained

After staying at the temple for several days,
Kawaguchi was contemplating about leaving
the town, when he was informed that the
23
24
25
26
27
28

Chapter XLI, Shigatze , p. 249.
Ibid., p. 250.
Ibid.
Ibid., pp. 251-252.
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 253.

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determined for the cause of Buddhism.29of the Dalai Lama of Lhasa, called Tse Potala.
Beyond the castle were roofs that towered highin the air looking like those of a town. These
were, in fact, the streets of Lhasa that lookedvery small when seen so far off.33

On Route to Lhasa
While travelling between Lhasa and Shigatze,
he encountered many travellers, including asoldier from Nepal, who happened to be one of
the Legation Guards of the Minister of Nepal at
Lhasa. Kawaguchi enquired from the Nepalesesoldier, how many soldiers did the Nepalese
Government station at Lhasa? The explanation
was that only a few years ago, Nepal first senta guard to the Tibetan capital, adding further
that a great calamity befell the capital over ten
years ago.30 It seems that there were about 300
merchants of the Palpo tribe of Nepal at Lhasa–
the most active and alert of the Nepalese tribes,
with regard to trading, who follow Indian, not
Tibetan Buddhism. They engaged in trade at
Lhasa in woolen cloth, cotton, silk, coral, jewels,
dr y goods, rice, beans and corn. 31 Following
these traders, a party of 25 Nepalese soldierscame to be stationed at Lhasa. The chief
diplomatist in this affair on the Nepal side was
Jibbahadur, who was the Clerk of the Nepalese
Government earlier, and now was the Nepalese
Minister to Tibet.32

The following day, Kawaguchi descended
for another few miles and found himself on thesouthern banks of the Brahmaputra. Arriving
to the ferr y of Chaksam, he had to cross theriver. Formerly, there was an iron bridge atthat place, the remaining chains of which could
still be seen a little lower down the stream.
The ferr yboats described by Kawaguchi wererectangular in shape like Indian boats. But it was
only in the winters that these boats were used.
For in the summers, large vessels could notpass across. In Tibetan, the word Kowa (meaning‘hide’) signified a boat. The Tibetans instead
used the yak-hide canoe kowas made by sewing
together the hides of three yaks, with the seams
painted over with a sort of lacquer, thus making
them waterproof. These hide canoes floated in
the waters, and were used as ferr yboats evenin the winters when there were not as many
passengers.34
Arrival in Lhasa, the Capital

Wa l k i n g f u r t h e r, K a w a g u c h i a n d h i s
Nepalese companion found themselves at thefoot of a steep hill called Genpala, which had an
inclination of about two and a half miles to its
top. It is from here that Kawaguchi saw, for the
first time ever, a view of Lhasa. From that point
he saw the Brahmaputra running southeast witha large tributary called Kichu running from thenortheast that flows into the river. It ran througha large plain, in the middle of which was amountain with a high building shining strikingly
in the golden sunshine. This was the residence
29
30
31
32
33
34

Heading further in the northeast direction
for about four miles, Kawaguchi reached thevillage named Sing Zonkha, where he stopped
over for the night, and arrived finally at Lhasa,
the capital of the country, on the following day,the 21st of March 1901. He hired a horse at thevillage, and rode on amid the beautiful scenesof the place. Soon enough Kawaguchi saw asplendid monastery, which at first sight seemed
more like a large village. This was the Rebungmonastery–the largest of its kind in the vicinity

CHAPTER XLII, A Supposed Miracle , p. 260.
Chapter XLIV, On to Lhasa , p. 280.
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 281.
Ibid., pp. 281-282.
Ibid.

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Policy Briefof Lhasa and in the ecclesiastical district under
the Dalai Lama. It had an army of priests that
numbered some 7,700 as a general rule, though
at times, their number rose as high as 9,000.
When the priests went out to the countr y on
pilgrimage during the summers, the remaining
number in the monastery came down to around6,000 only. The Rebung monaster y was thecenter of Tibetan learning and had a college.
In all, Kawaguchi saw three colleges in Central
Tibet, with the other two being the Sera College
in Lhasa and one at Ganden. The former had
5,500 students, and the latter 3,300.35

had just been brought from India. After her
request was granted, the Princess took it along
to the city of Lhasa, where it has remained eversince.37 The Princess thus brought the image
into the country at the same time as Buddhism
itself. A group of nearly 16 learned men weresent to India to study Buddhism, and invent new
characters.
Consequently, new Tibetan letters wereformed, and Buddhist doctrines were translated
into Tibetan. Buddhism was taught for over 13
centuries, to the great advantage of both, Tibet,
and Buddhism. Kawaguchi further elaborated
that the image of Buddha was not originallycar ved in China, but made by a Buddhist
sculptor, Vishvakarma, in India–from where
it was introduced into Tibet through China. 38
Kawaguchi was over whelmed with emotion at
this sight and lifted his hands in gratitude before
the image of Buddha for his safe arrival in Tibet,
and Lhasa. Once in Lhasa, he decided to stay39
at the Sera monastery. Kawaguchi successfully
passed off for being a Chinaman, more so as his
command over the Tibetan language was almost
as good as a native and he was often treated likeone.

The grandeur of the Tse Potala did in fact
strike Kawaguchi considerably. Going along
half a mile southeast of the palace hill, he cameto a bridge called Yuthok Samba–that was 120
feet by 15 feet, over which was a roof built in
Chinese style. He crossed the bridge and went
on for another 120 yards, and found himself
at the wester n gate of Lhasa, constr ucted
somewhat in the Chinese fashion. 36 Passing
through this western gate and riding on another250 yards Kawaguchi reached a large open
court. It was the large temple of Lord Buddha.
Enquiring how the image of the Buddha cameto be placed in the temple, Kawaguchi was toldthat when King Srong-tsan Gambo (who later
introduced Buddhism into the countr y) was
engaged to Princess Un-ching, the daughter ofChinese Emperor, Ta-sung of the Thang dynasty,
she demanded a promise from the father that
Buddhism should be widely preached in Tibet. It
was a belief that she might have been permitted
to take with her an image of Buddha, which

The Sera monaster y drew a similarity with
the Rebung monastery, since it too was built on
the slope of a hill, and resembled a village when
seen from a distance. 40 The Sera College, inparticular, was divided into three departments—
Je Ta-tsang, Maye Ta-tsang, and Ngakpa Tatsang. The first depar tment contained 3,800
priests, the second 2,500 and the third 500. The

35 Chapter XLY, Arrival in Lhasa , p. 285.
36 Ibid., p. 287.
37 Ibid., pp. 287-288.
38 Ibid.
39 Although, there were many cheap inns and hotels in Lhasa, but Kawaguchi was informed that they were notrespectable and thus he desired to stay with a friend, who was the son of the premier of Tibet. While at Darjeeling,
Kawaguchi was acquainted with this young noble, who had offered Kawaguchi to stay at his home in Lhasa known as
Bandesha—a magnificent 360 square feet mansion whenever Kawaguchi decided to arrive there; read more at pp. 288289.
40 Ibid., pp. 289-290.

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former two departments had 18 dormitories,
named Khamtsan, which differed in size, for thesmall ones had about 50 priests in them, while
there were over a 1,000 priests in the largest
ones. There were 200 priests in the house inwhich Kawaguchi stayed.41 Each Khamtsan had
its own property, and all the Khamtsans werecollectively called Sera.
Upon ar riving and settling in Lhasa,
Kawaguchi acknowledged that it was theblessings of Lord Buddha that enabled him tosee the Lord’s image at the temple in Lhasa
as well as at Bodhgaya in easter n India 42 –so profound was his faith in Buddha that
Kawaguchi was entirely devoted to Buddha andBuddhism.

41
42

Ibid., p. 291.
Ibid., p. 288.

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