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Like many other Edo period travelers of relatively high birth who we know about from extant diaries, Koshôken pursued studies in a variety of fields. He is known to have spent some time in [[Edo]] studying geography under [[Nagakubo Sekisui]], along with, presumably, other fields under other mentors.

Like many other Edo period travelers of relatively high birth who we know about from extant diaries, Koshôken pursued studies in a variety of fields. He is known to have spent some time in [[Edo]] studying geography under [[Nagakubo Sekisui]], along with, presumably, other fields under other mentors.

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 (city)|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 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.

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.