by Isabella L. Bird (Author)
Unbeaten Tracks in Japan. An Account of Travels in the Interior including visits to the Aborigines of Yezo and the Shrine of Nikko. By Isabella L. Bird. Unbeaten Tracks in Japan is a travel diary written by Isabella Bird of her trip to Japan in 1878, at the age of 47. It was first published in English in 1881 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. It was later translated into Japanese by Tsurukichi Ito. It chronicles the trip Bird made with a Japanese interpreter named Ito in 1878 from about June until September from Tokyo to Hokkaido (then Ezo), and recorded such things as Japanese houses, clothing, the sex industry, and the natural environment in great detail, as they were during the early years of the Meiji restoration. It also has many descriptions of the Ainu people. The first edition was released in 1881 in two volumes and afterwards an edited version with a less detailed account of the Kansai area was released in 1885.