Isabella Bird’s Observations On Meiji Japan

The nineteenth century was characterized by a worldwide expansion fueled by Western colonialism,which coincided with an unparalleled acceleration of global mobility and interaction.With the arrival of the Black Ship at Japan’s shores,the West and Japan have continuously intersected with one another,resulting in the formation of a distinctive symbiosis between literary and political discourses.In 1878,Isabella Bird,the renowned Victorian British female traveler,embarked on a journey to Japan,and her Unbeaten Tracks in Japan became the representative travelogue of the Meiji era.Landscape is a fundamental theme in travel writing.Previous studies have focused on the unique perspective of Isabella Bird as a female traveler,with her work Unbeaten Tracks in Japan serving as an important historical source for the Meiji era.In terms of the exotic landscapes depicted in this travelogue,scholars have generally categorized them into nature and urban areas,yet there is still room for exploring the discursive implications of this division itself and the emergence of imperial discourse from a Western perspective behind the Meiji landscapes.The first chapter of this paper delves into the mobility premise of Isabella’s travel route to the East and explores the complexities of her narrative of Japan’s towns and cities during the Meiji era,when she first arrived and encountered the country’s westernized towns and landscapes.And the second chapter analyzes Isabella’s "picturesque" aesthetic discovery of the Japanese natural landscape as she ventures into the countryside,while also portraying the Japanese interior as a space almost isolated from civilization.In addition,Isabella pays particular attention to the plants in the natural landscape,reflecting the authority of imperialist museums as she applies her scientific knowledge of botany and geography to her plant narratives.The third chapter describes the “civilized” circles that Isabella encounters on her journey,focusing on the marginalized nature of her encounters with the Japanese and Ainu.Furthermore,the influence of the “Imperial Eyes” on her journey to Japan is explored,and Isabella’s inherent imperial position is clarified.In general,this paper takes Isabella Bird’s Unbeaten Tracks in Japan as the case of study,adopts a method that focuses on a close reading of the text,supplemented by cultural studies,and combines cultural geography and post-colonial theory to place the object of study in the broad world context of the 19 th century,trying to trace the connection between the historical context and the discovery of the imperial landscape and the creation of imperial knowledge,with a view to restoring the position of the West in writing about Eastern civilization and its concern for its own civilization.