The Shimabara Peninsula in Nagasaki Prefecture is dotted with volcanic hot springs and covered in lush temperate forests. Referred to as unzen (the word onsen, i.e., hot springs, pronounced in local dialect) the area served for centuries as a refuge for pilgrims and ascetics seeking relief from earthly troubles. During the Edo Period, the European physicians assigned to the Dejima Dutch Factory (trading post) gathered information about the mountains and hot springs and wrote about the 17th-century torture of Japanese Christians using the scalding water.
By the 1870s, foreigners were overcoming obstacles both physical and legal, traveling to the hot springs and reporting to a wide European audience about the beauty of the scenery, the cool refreshing atmosphere of the mountains, and the places of historic and natural interest along the way. During the golden years of the early 20th century, Unzen flourished as a summer resort frequented by wealthy Euro-American residents of Shanghai and other East Asian ports, the site of posh Western-style hotels and Japan’s first public golf course, and an enclave of peace and international coexistence.
The present book, penned in English and Japanese and illustrated with more than 200 photographs, picture postcards, maps and other images, looks at the history of the journey from Nagasaki to Unzen and the people who traveled there, from German physician P.F. von Siebold, British merchant Thomas Glover and Nobel laureate Pearl Buck, to the American Occupation forces that requisitioned the hotels and recreation facilities after World War II. <188 pages, ¥2,000>
For further information, contact: Flying Crane Press (flyingcranepress@yahoo.co.jp)
