Changes

Some sources indicate that he journeyed to [[Nagasaki]] at age 32 to study [[Rangaku|Dutch medicine]], but his ''Saiyû zakki'' (Various Accounts of Journeys to the West) indicates that his [[1783]] visit to Nagasaki (around age 57) was his first. He documented his travels around Kyûshû fairly extensively, but writes in the preface to the final version of ''Saiyû zakki'' that he lost much of his writings from that time when his house flooded, and had to fill in the details afterwards, from memory. The journey from [[Arita]] to [[Nagoya (Saga)|Nagoya]] in [[Saga province]] is completely missing from the extant manuscripts, but what remains describes in great detail his journeys in the [[Chugoku region|Chûgoku region]] on his way to Kyûshû, and to/in [[Moji]], Nagasaki, [[Kagoshima]], [[Dazaifu]], [[Shimonoseki]] and elsewhere, along with his thoughts and reactions to what he discovered there.  

Some sources indicate that he journeyed to [[Nagasaki]] at age 32 to study [[Rangaku|Dutch medicine]], but his ''Saiyû zakki'' (Various Accounts of Journeys to the West) indicates that his [[1783]] visit to Nagasaki (around age 57) was his first. He documented his travels around Kyûshû fairly extensively, but writes in the preface to the final version of ''Saiyû zakki'' that he lost much of his writings from that time when his house flooded, and had to fill in the details afterwards, from memory. The journey from [[Arita]] to [[Nagoya (Saga)|Nagoya]] in [[Saga province]] is completely missing from the extant manuscripts, but what remains describes in great detail his journeys in the [[Chugoku region|Chûgoku region]] on his way to Kyûshû, and to/in [[Moji]], Nagasaki, [[Kagoshima]], [[Dazaifu]], [[Shimonoseki]] and elsewhere, along with his thoughts and reactions to what he discovered there.  

In Kagoshima, he met with a number of Ryukyuans, and praised their dedication and talent for studying the classics, and for arts and poetry, describing as well their dress, hairstyle, and physiognomy. In the village of [[Noshiro]], in [[Satsuma province]], he found a community of descendants of Koreans kidnapped during [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]]'s [[Korean Invasions]] of the 1590s, and forbidden from intermarrying and from adopting Japanese customs or dress even until this point, nearly 200 years later. He describes them with fascination and interest as well, leveling comments of disdain or disappointment never at foreigners, and only at provincial Japanese, who he describes at times as having "base customs," or as otherwise displaying less class, or a less cultured status, than those less geographically remote from the cultural centers of [[Kamigata]] and [[Edo]]. The same is seen in his descriptions of the [[Chinese in Nagasaki|Chinese]] and Dutch, in the sections on Nagasaki, where he visited [[Dejima]] and the ''tôjinmachi'' (Chinatown), and met with local ''[[Rangaku]]'' scholars such as [[Yoshio Kosaku|Yoshio Kôsaku]]. In all of his travels, Koshôken also displays considerable skepticism regarding local legends, something rather uncharacteristic of travelogues and travel guides of the Edo period.

In Kagoshima, he met with a number of Ryukyuans, and praised their dedication and talent for studying the classics, and for arts and poetry, describing as well their dress, hairstyle, and physiognomy. In the village of [[Noshiro]], in [[Satsuma province]], he found a community of descendants of Koreans kidnapped during [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]]'s [[Korean Invasions]] of the 1590s, and forbidden from intermarrying and from adopting Japanese customs or dress even until this point, nearly 200 years later. He describes them with fascination and interest as well, leveling comments of disdain or disappointment never at foreigners, and only at provincial Japanese, who he describes at times as having "base customs," or as otherwise displaying less class, or a less cultured status, than those less geographically remote from the cultural centers of [[Kamigata]] and [[Edo]]. The same is seen in his descriptions of the [[Chinese in Nagasaki|Chinese]] and Dutch, in the sections on Nagasaki, where he visited the ''tôjinmachi'' (Chinatown), and met with local ''[[Rangaku]]'' scholars such as [[Yoshio Kosaku|Yoshio Kôsaku]]. He was unable to enter [[Dejima]], of course, but stood just outside and recorded what he observed through the gates. In all of his travels, Koshôken also displays considerable skepticism regarding local legends, something rather uncharacteristic of travelogues and travel guides of the Edo period.

Koshôken's second major journey took place in [[1787]]-[[1788]], when his Edo-based mentor Nagakubo Sekisui recommended him to the shogunate, and he was invited to accompany a shogunal inspection tour of Tôhoku and [[Ezo]], led by ''[[hatamoto]]'' [[Fujisawa Sukenaga]]. Koshôken documented the journey in a text titled ''Tôyû zakki'', or "Various Records of a Journey to the East," the title complementing that of his Kyûshû diary. The party totalled 107 men, and Koshôken writes that conditions were difficult in various respects, and travel restricted, e.g. often to specific roads. Though commenting with interest on geography, placenames, and history or legends associated with given places, he complained about the incomprehensibility of regional dialects, of the many inaccuracies of the descriptions and maps in [[Hayashi Shihei]]'s ''[[Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu|Sangoku Tsûran Zusetsu]]'', and of various aspects of the journey besides. It is said that Koshôken's criticisms in his report to ''[[roju|rôjû]]'' [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]] may have been a key factor leading to Shihei's house arrest in [[1792]] and the destruction by the authorities of the printing blocks for ''Sangoku Tsûran Zusetsu'' and another of Shihei's works.

Koshôken's second major journey took place in [[1787]]-[[1788]], when his Edo-based mentor Nagakubo Sekisui recommended him to the shogunate, and he was invited to accompany a shogunal inspection tour of Tôhoku and [[Ezo]], led by ''[[hatamoto]]'' [[Fujisawa Sukenaga]]. Koshôken documented the journey in a text titled ''Tôyû zakki'', or "Various Records of a Journey to the East," the title complementing that of his Kyûshû diary. The party totalled 107 men, and Koshôken writes that conditions were difficult in various respects, and travel restricted, e.g. often to specific roads. Though commenting with interest on geography, placenames, and history or legends associated with given places, he complained about the incomprehensibility of regional dialects, of the many inaccuracies of the descriptions and maps in [[Hayashi Shihei]]'s ''[[Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu|Sangoku Tsûran Zusetsu]]'', and of various aspects of the journey besides. It is said that Koshôken's criticisms in his report to ''[[roju|rôjû]]'' [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]] may have been a key factor leading to Shihei's house arrest in [[1792]] and the destruction by the authorities of the printing blocks for ''Sangoku Tsûran Zusetsu'' and another of Shihei's works.