八丈嶋筆記 / Hachijōjima Notes

Hachijōjima hikki was written by Furukawa Koshōken, completed in 1797. This book is a manuscript, but the year of transcription is unknown. Furukawa Koshōken(1726-1807) was a traveler and a geographer of the late Edo period. In 1796, Mikawaguchi Tachū, a local governor of Izu, travelled through Edo to Izu Islands for inspections under the order from Edo bakufu. He went on a tour of inspection of Hachijōjima, Hachijōkojima, Miyakejima and Niijima, then returned to Uraga in December. And in the next January, he reported on his mission. In May 1797, Mikawaguchi Tachū told the story of his journey to Furukawa Koshōken, and Furukawa Koshōken wrote down the story in this book. Its contents are; a map of Izu Islands, articles regarding Hachijōjima, a voyage to the Islands, the population of the Islands, manners and customs, geography, living being, exiles, products, language, drifting ship, climate and more. In those days, Hachijōjima of Izu shichitō was a penal colony where the general public could not freely visit. Therefore, this book is very valuable records regarding the life and the folk customs in Hachijōjima mainly. In this book, there is a stamp of "Watanabe Chiaki zōsho" which is the ownership stamp of Watanabe Chiaki who was a government official in the period of Meiji and the early period of Taishō.(Updated on November 4, 2022)